mk 


mk 


mm 


Sy 


■4^3 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/doctorcavalloOObaldrich 


Doctor  Cavallo 


EUGENE  F.  BALDWIN  and  MAURICE  EISENBERG 
COLLABORATORS 


PEORIA,  ILLINOIS 
1895 


»    .  -•         >  o 


Copyrighted,  1895, 
By  Eugene  F.  Baldwin  and  Maurice  Eisenberg. 

[All  rights  reserved.] 


PRESS  OF 

J.   W.   FRANKS  &  SONS 

FBORfA.  ELt, 


Doctor  Cavallo 


CHAPTER  I. 


"Sore  throat?  Unable  to  swallow?  High  fever r 
Flushed  cheeks?  Little  white  patches  in  the  throat? 
Margaret  has  the  diphtheria!  That's  what  ails  her," 
said  Bob  Lawrence,  bringing  his  hand  down  on  the 
table  in  his   excitement. 

It  was  a  little  family  group  of  three.  Mr.  Lawrence, 
a  staid   and   respectable  merchant  in  the  the  city  of 

P ,  Mrs.  Lawrence,  a  matronly  woman,  and  Robert, 

their  son,  in  business  with  his  father.  Margaret,  the 
daughter,  younger  than  Bob,  had  not  come  down  to 
breakfast,  and  in  response  to  Bob's  questions  her 
mother  had  been  describing  her  symptoms. 

44 Get  a  physician  at  once"  said  Mr.  Lawrence,  ad- 
dressing his  wife. 

M  Whom  shall  I  call?"  she  inquired. 

u  Dr.  Blake,"  said  the  father. 

"He  is  the  best  of  the  old  school,"  returned  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  "but  I  rather  prefer  homoeopathy  for  these 
throat  diseases." 


436342 


4  ,;DOCT0^    CAVALLO 

"Oh!"  returned  Bob,  "it  isn't  the  system,  it's  the 
man.  The  only  good  thing  about  homoeopathy  is  that 
it  keeps  a  stream  of  something  going  down  your  throat 
all  the  time,  and  the  patient  has  his  mind  occupied 
thinking  which  glass  he  took  the  last  dose  out  of,  and 
getting  mixed  up  and  being  afraid  that  he  is  taking  one 
remedy  all  the  while,  so  that  he  has  no  time  to  think 
of  the  malady,  and  nature  does  the  rest,  as  she  gen- 
erally will  if  let  alone." 

"Well,   then,"  returned   his  mother,    "Dr.   Blake?" 

"Yes,  Dr.    Blake,"  whose  whole  idea  is  quinine  and 

podophyllin"  said  Bob.     He  gives  quinine  for  a  cold 

and  leptandrin  and    podophyllin  for  everything   else. 

It  isn't  the  system  that  you  want,  it  is  the  man.     Get 

Dr.  Cavallo." 

"Dr.  Cavallo?  He  has'nt  much  of  a  practice,  has 
he?"  queried  his  father. 

"What  do .  you  know  of  him?1'  Mrs.  Lawrence 
put  in. 

"Why,"  said  Bob,  "he  was  a  demonstrator  in  the 
college;  but  every  one  there  said  he  was  smart,  and 
the  'medicos,'  who  are  generally  a  rough  set,  were 
wrapped  up  in  him.  Since  he  has  been  here  he  has 
been  very  successful.  I  have  met  him  several  times 
and  renewed  our  acquaintance." 

"  I  don't  like,"  said  his  mother,  "  to  call  in  a  new 
doctor." 

"There  you  are  wrong,"  returned  her  son.  "With 
all  due  respect  to  you,  he  is  not  what  you  would  call 
new,  as  he  has  been  practicing  for  some  time,  and  as 
for  your  objection  to  new  physicians,  let  me  tell  you, 
Mother,  the  doctors  fresh  from  college  come  out  with 
all  of  the  new  ideas,  and  where  there  is  no  question 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  5 

in  regard  to  the  malady,  as  seems  to  be  the  case  with 
Margaret's  trouble,  a  new  doctor  is  better  than  an  old 
one.  The  only  advantage  that  an  old  doctor  has  over 
a  new  one  is,  that  he  knows  all  the  laws  of  heredity 
and  so  can  keep  track  of  the  cranks.  He  knows, 
when  old  Mrs.  Jones  calls  him  in  and  tells  him  that 
she  is  dying,  that  she  can't  last  ten  hours,  that  she  is 
good  for  fifteen  years  yet;  while  when  Bill  Smith  tells 
him  that  he  *  coughed  up  a  little  blood  last  night  which 
he  thinks  must  have  come  from  a  tooth,'  the  doctor 
knows  that  the  case  is  serious,  for  all  of  the  Smiths 
have  died  of  consumption  and  poor  Bill's  life  is  meas- 
ured by  months." 

"All  of  this  doesn't  help  Margaret,"  said  his  mother. 
"What  are  you  going  to  do?" 

•  "  I  am  going  to  call  Dr.  Cavallo,"  said  her  son,  and 
stepping  to  the  telephone  he  found  that  the  Doctor 
would  be  in  his  office  in  a  few  minutes,  and  that  he 
would  go  over  and  attend  the  call. 

Having  settled  this  matter  to  his  satisfaction,  Bob 
resumed  his  seat  at  the  table  and  having  had  his  cup 
of  coffee  replenished,  began: 

"You  see,  Mother,  it  is  this  way:  diphtheria  is  a 
poison  caused  by  microbes  —  little  germs  that  float 
around  in  the  atmosphere.  You  can  breathe  them  in 
with  perfect  impunity  if  there  is  no  way  in  which  they 
can  get  to  the  blood,  but  you  catch  cold  and  you  cough 
until  you  tear  loose  the  little  blood  vessels  in  the 
throat  and  then  brother  microbe  comes  along  and 
buries  in  the  spot,  gets  into  the  blood  and  there  you 
are." 

"What  nonsense  [are  you  talking,  Robert?"  said  his 
father. 


6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

rt  Fact  !  "  said  Bob.  M  Latest  development  of  science. 
The  microbe  multiplies  by  fission  ;  that  is  by  breaking 
in  two;  the  halves  grow  to  the  length  of  the  old  one 
and  then  break  in  two  again,  and  thus  multiply.  The 
first  two  become  four,  they  become  eight,  then  sixteen, 
then  thirty-two,  then  sixty-four,  then  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight,  and  so  on.  In  a  few  hours,  from  a  single 
pair,  they  increase  to  millions.'" 

"  Robert,  how  you  do  run  on,"  returned  his  mother. 

"But  what  makes  the  white  patches  in  the  throat  ?" 
said  his  father,  who  secretly  admired  his  son. 

"That"  said  Bob,  "is  because  the  microbes  bury  in 
the  mucous  membrane  and  destroy  it.  They  produce 
a  poison  in  the  blood  that  causes  paralysis  of  the 
heart." 

His  mother  smiled  upon  him  with  that  mild  ap- 
proval which  mothers  are  wont  to  express,  and  then 
said  in  her  quiet  manner,  "  How  did  you  come  to  know 
all  this?" 

"Til  tell  you  that,  too,"  said  Bob  in  his  off-hand 
way.  "  I  had  a  l  medico '  as  room-mate  at  college  part 
of  the  time.  Good  fellow  he  was,  too,  and  greatly 
stuck  on  his  profession,  on  Dr.  Cavallo  and  on  bacteri- 
ology. He  had  diphtheria  as  a  theme,  and  the  way 
he  pored  over  it,  and  dinned  it  into  me,  and  had  little 
messes  of  veal  broth  where  he  cultivated  them — I 
believe  that  he  would  have  inoculated  himself  with 
them  if  I  had  not  stopped  him." 

"  Robert  !  "  said  his  mother  reproachfully. 

His  father  only  laughed  and  added  :  "What  would 
your  Aunt  Jane  say  to  this?" 

"Aunt  Jane  being  a  Christian  Scientist,"  said  Bob, 
"  is  not  going  to  be  astonished  at  anything  that  can 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  7 

be  told  her.  If  she  can  fasten  her  mind  on  a  point  it 
is  settled." 

"I  expect  her  in  this  morning,"  added  Mrs. 
Lawrence. 

"  For  Heaven's  sake  don't  let  her  into  Margaret's 
room  or  she  will  fasten  her  mind  on  a  crack  in  the 
floor,  and  there  will  be  no  getting  rid  of  her  for  two 
weeks." 

As  he  rattled  on,  a  domestic  opened  the  door,  and 
announced,  "Dr.  Cavallo."  Bob  arose,  and  greeting 
the  new  comer  introduced  him  to  his  parents. 

As  the  two  men  stood  side  by  side  they  offered  a 
marked  contrast.  Bob  was  a  manly  fellow,  with  his 
square  shoulders  and  his  round  head,  set  off  by  his 
brown  hair,  cut  short.  There  was  laughter  in  his  eye, 
a  sense  of  humor  playing  about  his  mouth  and  his 
open,  frank  face.  He  was  one  that  you  instinctively 
liked  and  took  on  trust  at  once. 

The  doctor  was  somewhat  his  elder,  but  he  was 
graver.  His  olive  complexion,  black  eyes  and  hair 
well  became  him.  His  face  showed  marks  of  long 
and  profound  study.  His  athletic  figure,  the  hand, 
lithe,  flexible  and  slender,  but  strong,  the  slope  of  the 
shoulders,  the  well  made  hips,  while  these  gave  evi- 
dence of  tremendous  power,  all  bespoke  the  man  of 
refinement,  the  man  of  action,  and  the  man  of  thought. 
He  seemed  with  his  steady  poise,  the  resonant  tones 
of  his  voice,  the  straightforward  look  out  of  his  eyes, 
the  manly  firmness  of  his  walk,  the  very  grasp  of  his 
hand  as  one  who  possessed  great  reserve  powers. 
While  one  admired  Bob  at  the  first  glance,  Dr. 
Cavallo  instinctively  inspired  respect  and  confidence. 
Perhaps  his  great  power  lay  in  his  wonderful  sympathy. 


8  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

You  felt  this  in  his  magnificent  eyes,  in  the  grasp 
of  his  hand  that  thrilled  one  as  if  the  owner  possessed 
strong  magnetic  power,  and  that  indefinable  some- 
thing that  for  want  of  a  better  term  we  call  personal 
magnetism.  He  impressed  you  as  having  a  will  strong 
enough  to  pursue  its  object  through  difficulties  and 
dangers  and  great  enough  to  be  able  to  sink  his  own 
personality  in  the  effort  to  succor  others. 

As  he  stood  quietly  conversing  with  the  two  elderly 
people  he  presented  a  perfect  type  of  the  professional 
man,  grave,  dignified,  yet  sympathetic. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Mrs.  Lawrence  took  the  doctor  at  once  to  the 
chamber  of  the  sick  girl.  Bob  fidgeted  about  and 
then  said  :  "The  trouble  with  these  contagious  dis- 
eases, father,  is  that  you  never  know  what  to  expect. 
A  person  may  have  a 'very  mild  attack  of  diphtheria 
and  yet  may  give  it  in  its  worst  form  to  another.  What 
a  pathetic  story  it  is,  that  of  Queen  Victoria's  daughter, 
the  Princess  Alice.  Her  little  child  was  sick  and  dying 
with  the  awful  malady,  and  it  asked  her  to  give  it  a 
parting  kiss.  She  knew  the  danger,  but  she  complied, 
and  printing  a  kiss  upon  the  little  thing's  lips,  took 
diphtheria  in  its  worst  form  and  died." 

'*  Horrible,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 

"This,"  said  Bob,  "is  what  gives  me  a  pain,  when 
I  hear  people  talk  about  diphthretic  sore  throat,  as  if 
the  disease,  in  a  mild  form  could  be  fooled  with.  I 
think,"  he  said,  "that  it's  a  case  where  the  microbe 
isn't  so  active,  that's  all."  Then  he  added,  "  I  sup- 
pose we  ought  to  report  it  to  the  Board  of  Health." 

'*  Not  so  fast,"  replied  his  father,  "  let  us  know  what 
it  is  first." 

"Well  we  will  have  a  chance  to  know  all  about 
it  now,"  said  Bob,  looking  out  of  the  window,  "for 
here  comes  Aunt  Jane."     Even  as  he  spoke  a  fat  little 


10  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

body,  long  past  middle  life,  came  toiling  up  the  walk  and 
Bob  good  naturedly  opened  the  door,  allowing  her  to 
enter.  She  panted  up  the  steps,  walked  into  the  room 
and  flinging  herself  into  a  chair,  said,  "  I  never  had 
such  a  dreadful  time  in  all  my  life.  I  really  thought  that 
I  should  die.  The  wind  blew  so  awfully  that  positively 
I  was  afraid  I  should  blow  away.  Why  it  was  a  perfect 
cyclone." 

"Why  didn't  you  exert  your  will  power  and  stop  the 
whole  gale,  Aunt  Jane?  "  said  Bob,  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye.  "What  is  the  use  in  having  these  annoyances 
when  you  can  will  them  all  away?" 

"  If  our  faith  was  equal  to  our  desires,"  said  she 
gravely,  "  we  could  easily  say  to  this  mountain  depart, 
and  it  would  be  moved  into   the  sea." 

"Yes,"  said  Bob,  "but  how  about  the  wind?" 

"The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  said  she,  "and 
no  man  knoweth  whither  it  is  bound." 

"  There  is  where  you  differ  from  the  weather  depart- 
ment," said  Bob,  "  although  from  the  blunders  that 
they  have  been  committing  lately  they  had  better  fall 
back  on  Job  and  give  the  whole  thing  up,  as  a  bad  con- 
undrum, too  much  for  them. 

"Robert,"  said  his  father,  gravely,  "do  not  be  so 
irreverent." 

"Irreverent?"  echoed  Bob,  "I  am  the  most  devout 
duck  to  be  found  within  four  blocks,  except  that  I 
take  no  stock  in  weather  prophets  and  I  am  beginning 
to  lose  faith  in  the  government  itself.  It  has  been  prom- 
ising us  a  cold  wave  for  a  week  and  it  has  been  as  hot 
as  Tophet  all  of  the  time. 

"Where  is  your  mother,  Robert?"  inquired  Aunt 
Jane,  "  I  haven't  seen  her  in  an  age.     Is  she  never  going 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  II 

to  return  my  call?     I  must  positively  give  up  visiting 
her." 

"She  is  up  stairs  attending  to  Margaret  who  has  the 
diphtheria,"  replied  Bob. 

"The  diphtheria,"  returned  Aunt  Jane.  "Oh  how 
horrible,  and  what  is  she  doing  for  it?  Do  let  me 
call  Mrs.  Wilkins.  She  is  such  an  eminent  authority 
in  these  matters.     Her  cures  are  perfectly  wonderful." 

l<  No,  she  has  Dr.  Cavallo.  No  Christian  Science 
for  us,  if  you  please." 

"Dr.  Cavallo!"  shrieked  the  woman.  "What  will  he 
give  your  poor  sister?  Nothing  but  drugs  and  drugs 
and  drugs.  Why  will  you  depend  on  such  things  when 
what  you  need  is  faith?  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  understood 
the  science  better;  I  must  try  and  persuade  your  mother 
to  send  for  Mrs.  Wilkins.  Why,  she  never  gives  the 
slightest  thing  at  all,  but  just  sits  and  prays  by  the  sick 
bed,  oh,  such  lovely  prayers,  and  her  patients  get 
right  up  and  are  cured." 

"Yes,"  said  Bob,  **I  have  heard  of  her.  She  is  that 
old  lady  that  doctored  Mrs.  Toohey's  baby  for  the 
croup.  The  little  thing  died  and  I  had  hard  work  to 
keep  the  medical  society  from  prosecuting  Mrs.  Wilk- 
ins. Served  her  right  too,  only  I  am  a  great  deal  of 
a  crank  myself  and  I  take  all  of  the  fraternity  under  my 
protection,  especially  if  they  are  women.1' 

"Prejudice,  mere  prejudice,"    said    the    little   body. 
"  There  is  not  a  pain,  disease,  habit,  sin,  infirmity,  fear, 
accident  or  heart  ache  that  cannot  by  means  of  Chris- 
tian Science  be  relieved  or  entirely  cured." 
Bob  gave  a  low  whistle. 

"That  this  sweeping  statement  seems  incredible  to 
the   common  sense  does   not   change   the   fact,"  said 


12  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Aunt  Jane.  "The  living  witnesses  are  with  us  and 
they  will  gladly  tell  or  write  their  wonderful  experi- 
ences. When  you  understand  that  the  power  that  does 
this  work  is  Infinite  Mind,  you  will  say  that  all  things 
are  possible  with  God." 

44  And  you  think  that  Mrs.  Wilkins  has  a  section  of 
this  power,  that  old  snuffy  female.  Holy  smoke!" 
said  Bob,  "give  us  faith." 

"If  materia  medica  was  the  right  thing  God  would 
have   given  it  authority  and  sanction,"  said  Aunt  Jane. 

"Your  argument  proves  too  much,  Aunt  Jane," 
said  Bob.  "  Now  for  instance,  if  God  had  believed 
that  the  steam  engine  was  constructed  on  the  right 
principles,  he  would  have  made  Adam  a  present  of  one 
in  the  garden  of  Eden.  As  he  didn't  do  it  the  steam 
engine  must  have  come  from  the  devil,"  and  Bob 
laughed  at  his  own  wit. 

"Robert,"  said  his  father,  "do  not  mock  at  sacred 
things." 

"  Mrs.  Mary  Eddy  has  gone  to  the  root  of  the  whole 
matter,"  said  Aunt  Jane,  "when  she  said  'Mind  is  all- 
in-all.  Divine  Mind  and  its  ideas  are  the  only  reali- 
ties'" 

"Do  you  believe  that  Christian  Science  can  set  a 
broken  bone?"  asked  Bob.  "  Now  let  us  get  down  to 
the  plain  facts." 

"Certainly  I  do,"  said  Aunt  Jane,  firmly.  "  Did 
Jesus  say  to  his  disciples,  take  the  Gospel  and  dissect 
a  man;  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  ana- 
tomy and  physiology  and  then  if  he  is  sick  you  can 
heal  him;  or,  go  into  a  chemist's  laboratory,  analyze  the 
material  elements  of  a  dead  body  and  matter  will 
instruct  you  how  to  heal  a  man?     Did  Jesus  say  to  his 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 3 

disciples  or  to  Christian  Scientists,  go  study  anatomy, 
number  the  bones,  understand  the  joints,  consult  the 
marrow,  that  when  a  bone  is  broken  or  a  joint  dislo- 
cated you  may  take  Christ,  who  never  studied  anatomy 
or  bade  anyone  study  it  to  set,  replace  or  heal?" 

41  Go  on,  Aunt  Jane,"  said  Bob  with  mock  gravity, 
"  this  reads  like  a  leaf  out  of  a  book.  Go  on,  and  you 
may  make  a  Christian  Scientist  out  of  me  yet." 

"You  are  dead  in  sin,  I  fear,"  said  the  little'  body, 
"  and  I  must  be  going.  Tell  your  mother  that  I  called 
and  that  I  was  very  sorry  to  learn  that  Margaret  is 
sick,  but  we  are  to  have  a  meeting  this  afternoon  and 
I  will  bring  up  her  case  before  the  class,1'  so  saying  she 
bustled  out  and  was  gone. 

When  she  had  gone,  Bob  burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter 
and  said,  "  as  soon  as  I  mentioned  the  word  diphtheria 
she  began  to  be  uneasy.  You  couldn't  have  kept  her 
in  the  house  with  a  yoke  of  oxen.  Strange  that  these 
people  who  have  so  many  and  such  infallible  cures  for  all 
diseases  are  frightened  to  death  when  it  comes  to  catch- 
ing anything  themselves.  The  trouble,  I  suspect,  with 
Aunt  Jane  is,  that  she  sticks  to  Christian  Science 
because  it's  cheaper  than  any  other  system." 

What  more  Robert  would  have  said  was  lost  to  the 
world,  for  just  then  his  mother  came  back  followed  by 
the  Doctor,  and  Mr.  Lawrence's  inquiry  as  to  what  the 
trouble  was  with  his  daughter  was  met  by  the  physi- 
cian, saying  "I  do  not  think  there  is  any  cause  to  fear. 
Miss  Lawrence  is  very  weak  and  the  prostration  was 
sudden  and  great,  but  I  have  no  fear  but  she  will  re- 
cover." 

11  Is  it  as  bad  as  that?  "  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 

44  Diphtheria  is  not  a  thing  to  fool  with,"  interposed 


14  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Bob,  "and  I  want  you,  Doctor,  to  do  your  best;  see 
Margaret  twice  a  day  and  don't  spare  any  effort  to 
bring  her  around." 

"You  seem  to  be  somewhat  of  a  medical  man  your- 
self," remarked  the  Doctor,  smiling. 

"  Yes,"  said  Bob,  "  I  roomed  with  Seidel;  you  remem- 
ber him?" 

The  Doctor  nodded  assent. 

"Awful  smart  fellow.  Ran  wild  on  bacteriology. 
Went  West  after  graduating,  became  a  great  mining 
expert  and  made  a  fortune.  Now,  father  we  must 
attend  to  business.  The  Doctor  here  will  come  around 
this  afternoon,  and  Margaret  will  be  all  right  in  two 
days.  Come,  Doctor,  we  will  all  go  down  town  to- 
gether,1' and  the  three  passed  out  of  the  door  and 
down  the  steps,  bidding  good-bye  to  Mrs.  Lawrence 
as  they  departed. 


CHAPTER  III, 


"It  is  the  noblest  of  professions  and  the  meanest 
of  trades,v  said  Dr.  Maurice  Cavallo  to  himself,  "and 
if  that  is  the  way  old  Father  Hippocrates  found  it 
what  can  a  fellow  expect  in  these  degenerate  days?" 
and  so  saying,  he  drew  forth  a  match,  searched  in  his 
pockets,  found  a  cigar,  and  lighting  it,  proceeded  to 
pour  forth  a  cloud  of  smoke.  In  this  occupation 
he  was  standing  before  his  window  contemplating  the 
street  and  watching  it  rain,  when  he  saw  Bob  Law- 
rence go  by  and  he  hastily  knocked  on  the  window 
to  attract  his  attention.  That  individual,  on  seeing  who 
it  was  that  was  calling  to  him,  stopped,  closed  his 
umbrella,  and  soon  could  be  heard  stamping  up  stairs. 
He  opened  the  office  door,  stood  his  umbrella  up  in  a 
corner  where  the  surplus  water  would  run  into  a  tin 
basin  in  which  the  Doctor  had  "a  culture."  Dr.  Cav- 
allo started  at  first  to  stop  him,  but  as  the  special 
bacteria  had  long  since  died  out,  a  result  of  too  much 
crowding,  he  desisted,  and  watched  the  other  settle 
himself  in  a  chair,  pull  a  cigar  out  of  his  pocket, 
light  it,  and  then  fish  around  for  a  match.  This 
found,  he  joined  in,  and  they  steadily  sent  out  a  cloud 
of  smoke  together. 

Finally,  the  Doctor  found  time  to  put  the  question 
that  he  had  been  aching  to  ask  and  yet  hesitated 
from  some  unaccountable  impulse  to  do. 


l6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"How  is  your  sister?1' 

"Oh,"  said  Bob,  "she  is  all  right;  no  worse  since 
you  dismissed  the  case.  Ugly  thing  this  diphtheria. 
Do  you  know  that  I  had  half  a  notion  to  be  a  doctor 
myself?  Seidel  talked  so  much  to  me  about  it  that  I 
had  a  great  mind  to  become  a  'dig'  and  try  for  a 
profession." 

Cavallo  laughed.  "  Let  me  congratulate  you  on  your 
escape." 

"Oh  yes,"  said  Bob,  "I  know  all  about  it.  Settle 
in  some  town,  go  in  and  physic  the  poor  ;  treat  every- 
body, pay  or  no  pay,  live  on  one  potato  a  month, 
and  keep  a  fast  horse  and  drive  around  like  thunder 
to  give  people  an  idea  that  you  are  rushed  with 
work.  Go  to  church  and  hire  a  boy  to  run  in,  right 
in  the  midst  of  the  second  lesson,  go  up  the  aisle  and 
whisper  to  you  that  you  are  wanted;  then  you  tumble 
out,  knock  over  all  the  hats  in  the  aisle,  and  drive 
around  as  if  you  had  half  the  lives  of  the  city  in  your 
medicine  case." 

"What  a  physician  you  would  have  made,"  said  Dr. 
Cavallo,  smiling  in  spite  of  himself. 

"I  had  the  whole  thing  down  fine,1'  replied  Bob. 
"Every  time  a  boy  cut  his  finger,  rush  around  to  the 
newspaper  offices  and  report  an  astonishing  case  of 
surgery.  '  The  son  of  our  well-known  citizen,  Mr. 
Thomas  Smith,  met  with  a  serious  accident  yester- 
day, but  the  timely  arrival  of  the  great  surgeon,  Dr. 
Lawrence,  saved  the  lad's  finger  and  undoubtedly,  by 
preventing  the  effusion  of  blood,  remedied  what  might 
have  been  a  serious  affair.'  Oh,  I  know  all  the  arts  by 
which  the  modern  doctor  gets  free  advertising  and 
cheats  the  newspapers." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 7 

"Instead  of  which  profession,"  said  Dr.  Cavallo, 
looking  at  him  from  across  the  table,  "  Mr.  Robert 
Lawrence  chose  to  devote  himself  to  business,  to  the 
sordid  acquisition  of  wealth,  and  thus  robbed  the  pro- 
fession of  what  might  have  been  its  brightest  ornament 
and  the  world  of  a  savant  who  would  have  conferred 
luster  upon  science  itself." 

"It  is  all  right,"  replied  Bob,  "but,  my  dear  sir,  the 
secret  of  practicing  medicine  is  like  everything  else, 
what  you  can  get  out  of  it.  If  I  practiced  medicine  I 
would  do  it  for  money  just  the  same  as  any  thing 
else.  This  notion  that  a  doctor  must  work  for  nothing 
and  trust  to  the  Lord  is  one  of  the  foolish  ideas  born  of 
the  monks  of  the  middle  ages.  They  gave  every 
man  a  mug  of  ale,  a  half  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  doctored 
him  when  he  was  sick,  all  for  nothing.  We  stick  to 
the  idea  that  he  is  still  to  be  doctored  free,  but  we 
charge  him  for  the  ale  and  the  bread.  Now  I  am  abso- 
lutely without  prejudice,  and  I  would  as  soon  be  a 
doctor  as  a  lawyer  or  preacher  or  anything  else." 

"  Without  prejudice,"  repeated  Cavallo,  bitterly. 
"  Is  there  any  human  being  who  can  truly  say  that  he  is 
without  prejudice?" 

u  Prejudice,  said  Bob,  "  is  merely  a  question  of  op- 
portunity and  condition.  For  instance,  every  nation 
has  at  some  time  been  under  the  yoke.  I  am  a  Saxon 
and  I  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  less  than  a 
thousand  years  ago  my  ancestors  wore  a  yoke  around 
their  necks  that  had  the  name  of  their  Norman 
master  marked  on  it.  The  negro  is  mobbed  in  the 
South,  sneered  at  in  the  North,  but  treated  as  an  equal 
in  England,  where  he  has  no  trouble  to  get  a  white 
wife.     The  Chinaman  is  regarded  as  a  howling  nuisance 


1 8  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

in  San  Francisco,  but  he  is  looked  upon  with  favor  in 
New  England,  where  the  best  ladies  will  take  him 
by  the  hand  and  welcome  him  to  Sunday  school  and 
teach  him  his  letters  and  the  sublime  principles  of  the 
Christian  faith.     Take  the  Jews." 

The  doctor  made  a  gesture  of  impatience  and 
offered  his  visitor  a  fresh  cigar  as  if  the  subject  were 
distasteful  to  him. 

Bob  stopped  long  enough  to  light  it,  and  then  went 
on  without  noticing  him. 

"Now  in  England,  Disraeli,  Moses  Montiflore,  the 
Rothschilds,  and  George  Eliot  in  'Daniel  Deronda,' 
have  thrown  a  romance  around  the  name  of  Jew, 
so  that  England's  best  and  bravest,  the  most  exclu- 
sive nobility  in  the  world,  headed  by  the  Queen,  a 
great  stickler  for  precedent  and  form,  sets  apart  one 
day  in  every  year  in  which  to  strew  with  flowers  the 
grave  of  England's  great  Jew,  the  man  who  maintained 
peace  with  honor." 

"You  have  not  lighted  your  cigar,"  said  the  Doctor. 

u  Now  wait  until  I  get  through,  because  I  have  a 
theory  on  this,"  said  the  other.  a  How  is  it  in  Russia  ? 
There  the  Jew-baiting  frenzy  has  broken  out  with  the 
greatest  virulence.  The  accounts  of  the  persecutions 
are  as  awful  as  anything  mentioned  in  the  days  of 
Ferdinand  and  Torquemada  in  Spain.     Now  why?" 

"  Race  prejudice,"  said  Cavallo. 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,"  replied  Bob.  "The  real  trouble 
is  the  despotism  of  the  Czar  is  so  galling  and  oppres- 
sive that  the  people  wait  to  see  on  whom  they  can 
lay  the  blame.  Kick  a  boy  for  chalking  your  fence 
and  he  will  throw  a  stone  at  the  first  friendless  dog  he 
meets.     The  outrages  against  the  Russian  Jews  repre- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  19 

sent  the  measure  of  tyranny  that  the  common  people 
are   getting   at   the   hands  of  the  bureaucracy." 

"How  is  it  in  Germany?"  inquired  Cavallo,  with  a 
show  of  interest. 

"There  you  are  again,"  returned  Bob,  "with  a 
stronger  illustration  of  my  theory.  Germany  owes 
much  to  the  Jews.  With  such  names  as  the  Mendels- 
sohns,  of  Carl  Marx,  of  Eduard  Lasker,  of  Heine,  of 
Auerbach,  the  cultivated  German  knows  that  literature, 
art  and  science  have  all  been  benefitted  by  the  Jew,  and 
yet  such  is  the  pressure  of  military  despotism  and  such 
the  repressive  tendencies  of  the  present  government  that 
an  uneasy  feeling  is  creeping  through  all  classes.  The 
government  keeps  it  down  by  appealing  to  the  patriot- 
ism of  the  people.  Feeling  the  harness  gall,  they 
in  turn  look  about  for  some  means  of  venting  their 
ill-humor  and  they  have  fallen  afoul  of  the  Jews.  The 
violence  of  the  attack  shows,  not  that  the  Jews  are  in 
the  wrong,  but  measures  the  force  of  the  despotism 
of  the  government.  Some  time  the  pot  lid  will  blow 
off  and  then  look  out. 

"For  my  part,"  continued  Bob,  "I  do  not  see  why 
the  Germans  in  this  country  should  continue  their  un- 
reasoning prejudice  against  the  Jews.  The  Germans 
come  here  in  many  cases  to  escape  the  galling  military 
service  in  their  own  land.  They  are  made  welcome. 
Every  facility  is  given  them  and  yet  they  often  display 
an  unreasoning  adherence  to  their  old  notions.  Why, 
only  the  other  day  in  St.  Louis  a  crank  delivered  a  long 
diatribe  against  the  Jews  as  a  race,  and  the  Westliche 
Post,  formerly  considered  to  be  the  organ  of  such 
liberal  and  enlightened  statesmen  as  Carl  Schurz,  ac- 
tually printed   seven   columns  of  the  stuff.     I  am  an 


20  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

American  and  am  willing  to  accord  every  man  his  full 
measure  of  rights,  but  I  am  unwilling  to  see  the  old 
prejudices  of  the  old  world  foisted  upon  us  and  taught 
in  the  public  prints  as  if  they  were  something  to  be 
proud  of." 

" The  Jew,"  said  Cavallo  gloomily,  "has  been  in  all 
ages  the  Messiah  to  humanity  and  he  has  been  re- 
warded by  the  fagot  and  the  torch." 

"I  don't  know  about  the  Messiah,"  returned  Bob, 
laughing,  '*  and  I  rather  think  my  father  would  dispute 
you  on  that  point,  but  the  Jew  has  done  a  good  deal  that 
is  a  fact.     He  did  give  us  banking  and  exchange." 

"And  medicine  and  law,  and  he  is  the  author  of  mod- 
ern science,"  interrupted  Cavallo. 

"Modern  science,"  replied  Bob,  "how  do  you  make 
that  out?" 

"Why,  when  the  Arabs,  having  embraced  Islam, 
swept  over  the  world,  they  were  an  ignorant  race  of 
barbarians.  The  first  thing  that  they  did  was  to  burn 
the  library  at  Alexandria.  The  Jews  became  their  teach- 
ers, and  they  taught  the  Arabs  the  science  of  numbers, 
which  we  call  the  Arabic  notation;  it  is  really  the 
old  Chaldean  system  taught  them  by  the  Jews.  They 
founded  the  universities  in  Spain  at  Valladolid,  and  at 
Seville,  where  Pope  Sylvester  himself  graduated.  The 
monks  thought,  because  Sylvester  knew  something  of 
science  he  could  tell  where  all  the  treasures  of  the 
world  were  located.  It  was  from  the  great  Spanish 
universities  that  the  Renaissance  started  and  the  Italian 
schools  began.  The  Bologna  university  owes  its  ex- 
istence to  the  scholars  started  and  educated  by  the 
Spanish  Jews.  They  are  the  ones  that  translated  the 
old  Greek  classics  and  who  brought  to  light  the  hidden 
learning  of  the  ancients,'1 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  21 

"Good  for  them,"  said  Bob,  "but  what  gave  them 
their  start  in  medicine?" 

"Because,"  returned  Cavallo,  "the  church  insisted 
that  disease  was  either  the  work  of  devils  or  special 
punishment  for  sin  and,  in  either  case,  it  could  only  be 
cured  by  exorcism  or  prayer.  When  a  man  had  the 
colic  or  rheumatism  they  rubbed  him  with  the  bones 
of  a  saint,  if  he  had  fever  they  had  no  other  remedy. 
The  Jews,  not  being  under  this  rule,  were  forced  to 
study  the  laws  of  nature,  They  investigated  the  quali- 
ties of  plants  and  herbs.  Their  love-philters  contained 
phosphorus  long  before  the  pharraacopceia  contained 
the  drug  as  an  aphrodisiac.  Belladonna  was  known 
to  them  long  before  the  Gentile  had  any  conception 
of  it.  They  prescribed  pqdophyllin  long  before  'the 
mandragora's  moans1  was  known  to  Europe.  In  fact. 
Leah  knew  something  about  it  as  you  can  see,  if  you 
will  read  the  book  of  Genesis  and  she  put  it  to  a  strange 
use,  for  she  came  it  over  Rachel  with  a  lot  of  man- 
drakes. Old  Albertus  Magnus  says  that  he  had  dis- 
covered the  secret  of  Solomon's  Seal  which  was  im- 
parted to  him  by  a  Jew,  as  you  can  see  by  the  name,  for 
he  was  pupil  of  the  great  Maimonides." 

"That  must  be  so,"  said  Bob,  "for  I  remember  read- 
ing that  Queen  Elizabeth  had  a  Jew,  Lopez,  for  a  phy- 
sician, and  it  is  said  he  gave  Shakespeare  his  idea  of 
Shylock.1' 

"  Every  great  man  had  a  Jew  doctor,  for  it  was  soon 
found  that  where  the  bones  of  the  saint  refused  to 
act,  that  the  rhubarb  of  the  Jew  expert  was  pretty 
certain  to  produce  the  required  result,"  said  Cavallo, 
grimly. 

The  high  chamberlain  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of 


22  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Spain  was  a  Jew,  Don  Isaac  Abarbanel,  and  he  narrowly 
averted  that  bloody  persecution  of  the  Inquisition. 
He  was  a  great  man  and  he  offered  Ferdinand  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  forego  his  purpose.  Torquemada 
heard  of  it  and  breaking  into  the  room  where  the  con- 
tract was  being  discussed,  elevated  a  crucifix,  yelling 
at  the  top  of  his  voice:  4 Behold  the  modern  Judas 
Iscariot  who  would  sell  his  Lord  for  thirty  pieces  of 
silver.' 

That  was  enough,  and  the  consequence  of  letting 
the  old  pirate  loose  was  the  massacre  of  three  hundred 
thousand  Jews,  the  best  intellect  of  Spain.  Perhaps  it 
is  some  compensation  to  reflect  that  Spain  has  never 
recovered  from  the  blow." 

"Why  do  you  talk  in  this  way  ?  "  said  Bob.  "You 
are  a  Spaniard  yourself,  as  I  have  heard." 

Cavallo's  cheek  darkened  and  his  brow  flushed. 
He  shut  his  hand  hard  down  on  the  palm,  and  then 
he  answered  slowly : 

"  I  am  of  Spanish  descent."  After  a  pause  he  added  : 
M  My  immediate  ancestors  came  from  Holland.  Hol- 
land," he  continued,  "the  parent  of  freedom  where  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  learned  their  lessons  in  liberty  and 
in  government.'" 

"Yes,  there  is  another  illustration  of  my  theory," 
said  Bob.  "The  Pilgrim  Fathers,  knocked  around 
from  pillar  to  post,  driven  from  England,  sent  over  into 
Holland,  kicked,  maltreated  and  abused,  finally  won 
the  respect  of  the  world  by  going  out  and  doing 
something,  and  then  they  were  never  ashamed  of 
their  faith." 

Cavallo  started. 

"A   Pilgrim   was   willing  to  stand  up  and  let  them 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  23 

hack  off  his  ears  and  put  him  in  pillory,  and  pelt  him 
and  wool  him  in  all  possible  ways.  To  be  sure 
when  he  got  a  chance  he  showed  them  that  he  could 
shave  off  heads  himself,  but  he  always  stuck  to  his 
colors. 

"So  of  the  Irish.  They  are  the  finest  soldiers  in 
Europe  and  have  shown  it  on  every  battlefield,  and  yet 
when  Cromwell  captured  three  thousand  of  them 
at  Drogheda  he  knocked  them  in  the  head  solely 
to  save  ammunition.  William  III  'of  pious,  blessed 
and  immortal  memory,  who  saved  England  from  brass 
money,  wooden  shoes  and  Popery '  called  them  savage 
kerns.  Why  it  is  not  so  very  long  ago  that  the  legend 
1  No  Irish  need  apply '  was  attached  to  every  want  in 
the  newspapers  when  the  parties  wished  a  hired  girl." 

"I  have  often  thought,1'  said  Cavallo  gravely,  uthat 
the  Irish  ought  to  the  most  outspoken  race  for  human 
liberty  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man  of  any  in  the 
world." 

"This  is  in  accordance  with  my  idea,"  said  Bob. 
"They  have  been  oppressed  and  they  turn  on  some 
one  beneath  them.  Like  the  story  of  the  Irish  stow- 
away from  Dublin.  The  colored  cook  found  him  the 
second  day  out  and  saved  him  by  making  him  his 
assistant.  He  fed  him  all  the  way  over,  but  Pat, 
by  mingling  with  some  of  the  other  passengers,  learned 
that  it  was  not  the  thing  for  white  people  to  mix 
with  colored  ones  in  the  new  country.  As  they  landed 
the  colored  cook  fixed  up  a  good  breakfast  for  his 
fellow  assistant,  and  as  they  parted  the  cook  slipped 
a  quarter  into  the  other's  hand.  The  Irishman  re- 
fused it,  saying  with  a  gesture  of  contempt  :  '  I  wush 
to  receive  no  assistance  from  your  degraded  race.'  " 


24  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"God's  vengeance  does  not  sleep,  and  he  punishes 
all  crimes,'1  said  Cavallo,  gloomily.  "  The  nation  that 
fosters  injustice  shall  perish  by  injustice.  No  people 
can  afford  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  class  hatred,  for  as 
certain  as  the  sun  rises  and  sets,  so  shall  they  learn 
that  these  are  but  bloody  instructions  that  shall  return 
to  plague  the  inventors.  Many  peoples  have  tried  it. 
and  the  end  has  been  that  it  has  eaten  out  the  national 
spirit  like  a  canker  and  left  it,  as  Spain  is  left  to-day, 
a  poor,  shattered  hulk  in  the  highways  of  the  world. 
Italy  tried  it  and  in  tears  and  sorrow  is  she  endeavor- 
ing to  throw  off  the  yoke. 

"The  Saxon  race  is  proud  of  its  achievements,  and  is 
proud  that  it  to-day  stands  in  the  foremost  ranks  of 
civilization  ;  that  it  has  wrought  out  its  own  independ- 
ence by  its  own  right  arm,  and  that  in  science,  in  art, 
in  all  that  constitutes  true  progress  it  stands  without  a 
compeer  —  the  one  great  branch  triumphant  on  the  sea, 
the  other  equally  invincible  on  the  land. 

11  But  let  it  reflect  that  it  has  gained  this  freedom  and 
this  independence,  not  by  its  own  efforts,  but  because 
there  was  breathed  into  the  souls  of  its  fathers  as  with 
the  breath  of  life,  the  inspiration,  the  lofty  devotion, 
the  high  and  unshrinking  purpose,  found,  not  in  its  own 
traditions,  not  in  its  own  literature,  but  in  the  old  Jew- 
ish Bible,  and  in  the  old  Jewish  Bible  alone." 

"That  is  great,"  repeated  Bob,  enthusiastically  ham- 
mering on  the  table.  "  Hear,  hear.  It  sounds  like 
a  chapter  from  Isaiah.  You  must  have  a  trace  of  the 
old  prophetic  blood  in  you,  Cavallo?" 

The  dark  shade  again  swept  across  the  doctor's  face 
and  he  made  no  reply.     The  other  continued: 

"  I  say,  come  up  to-night  and  spend  the  evening  at  the 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  2$ 

house.  I  want  the  governor  to  get  started  on  the  future 
of  the  Jews.  He  is  simply  immense  and  when  he  gets 
going  there  is  no  holding  him.  I  must  go  to  business 
now." 

So  saying  he  threw  the  cigar  stump  into  the  grate 
and  shaking  out  his  umbrella,  with  an  air  of  mock 
gravity,  put  on  his  hat,  saluted  the  doctor,  and  in  reply 
to  the  other's  half  amused  response  to  his  salutation 
went  down  the  stairs  whistling  a  stawe  of  the  latest 
popular  melody. 

When  he  had  gone  the  gloom  deepened  on  Cavallo's 
face  and  he  shut  his  teeth  hard.    Then  he  broke  out : 

u  What  a  fool  and  coward  slave  am  I,  to  sit  here  and 
deny  my  race  and  creed,  to  hear  the  epithet  'Jew1 
bandied  about  without  opening  my  head  to  defend 
the  faith   or   the  blood  of  my  fathers.1' 

He  paused,  and  then  he  burst  out  with  that  bitter 
epigram   by  Heine,   the   great   German  poet. 

"  It  is  not  a  crime  to  be  a  Jew  but  it  is  a  terrible 
misfortune." 

With  these  words  he  drew  on  his  riding  coat  and 
putting  his  medicine  case  in  his  pocket  went  off  on 
his  rounds  to  visit  his  patients. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Doctor  Maurice  Cavallo  sat  before  his  grate  fire  in 
a  discontented  mood.  The  thought  of  the  conversa- 
tion in  the  morning  galled  him.  He  felt  that  he  was 
acting  a  part.  He  hated  himself  for  not  having  made 
a  frank  avowal  to  Bob  and  then — if  he  had — he  stop- 
ped and  saw  in  imagination  the  friendly  doors  of  the 
Lawrence  house  closed  against  him  and  the  fair  face 
of  his  gentle  patient  rose  before  him.  What  had 
he  to  do  with  her?     He  was  of  an  alien  race. 

An  alien  race!  The  world  does  not  yet  accord 
him  full  social  recognition  or  greet  him  with  the  respect 
that  is  due  a  man.  It  tolerates  but  it  does  not  welcome 
him.  The  stigma  of  contumely  still  hangs  over  him. 
Wherever  he  may  go,  in  what  ever  country  he  may  cast 
his  lot,  he  is  everywhere  an  alien  and  he  feels  that  he 
is  regarded  as  an  outcast.  He  was  depressed  and 
he  arose  and  paced  back  and  forth  in  his  office.  "  Hath 
not  a  Jew,  hands?"  he  said  to  himself.  "'If  you  tickle 
us  do  we  not  laugh,  if  you  prick  us  do  we  not  bleed?" ' 

A  Jew  !  and  then  the  fair  face  of  Margaret  broke 
in  upon  his  vision  and  her  radiant  beauty  passed  before 
his  mental  gaze.  He  shook  his  head  as  if  he  could  not 
bear  the  thought  of  her  face  being  turned  from  him 
with  disdain  and  aversion. 

44  But,  then,  what   is  the  use  of  all  this?      I  am  an 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  2J 

American  citizen,"  he  said,  u  why  should  I  go  about 
proclaiming  my  ancestry? 

11  What  is  this  great  American  nation  anyway  but  a 
composite  race,  formed  of  all  the  blood  of  the  earth? 
It  is  the  future,  not  the  past,  that  counts.  'I  am  the 
Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  of  my  family,'  said  Napoleon, 
and  why  should  not  every  ambitious  soul  say  the  same? 

11  After  all  what  is  the  golden  rule  of  philosophy  but 
silence?  Well  did  the  old  Greek  and  Egyptian  sages 
enjoin  upon  their  disciples  a  silence  of  seven  years. 
It  was  Ben  Franklin  who  said  that  he  had  often  re- 
pented for  opening  his  mouth,  never  for  keeping  it 
shut.  What  does  a  man's  pedigree  amount  to  anyway? 
He  simply  has  to  strive  against  heredity  all  of  his  life 
and  if  he  is  lucky  he  will  outgrow  his  tendencies." 

The  more  his  mind  ran  on  in  this  strain  the  calmer 
he  grew.  Yes,  he  would  say  nothing  about  it,  but  he 
would  go  ahead  and  live  like  other  people.  As  for 
his  race,  that  was  a  thing  that  he  could  not  help, 
but  that  man  is  a  fool  who  will  allow  such  things  to 
overmaster  him  or  stand  in  his  way.  "  Now  truce 
farewell  and  ruth  begone,"  he  said  to  himself  as  he 
got  up  and  made  his  toilette.  He  felt  that  a  burden 
had  been  litfed  from  his  mind  and  he  took  his  hat  and 
cane  with  a  certain  sense  of  gaiety  and  freedom. 

He  walked  out  into  the  starlit  ni^ht  and  inflated  his 
lungs  with  a  feeling  of  physical  pleasure.  The  quiet 
evening  and  the  early  darkness  relieved  his  soul  of  its 
burden.  He  wanted  sympathy  and  almost  uncon- 
sciously he  took  his  way  to  the  Lawrence  mansion. 
'He  said  to  himself  that  he  ought  to  call  and  see  how 
his  patient  was  getting  along  for  he  had  dismissed 
the  care  of  Margaret  for  some  days. 


28  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

He  mounted  the  steps  and  his  heart  swelled  within 
him  as  the  door  swung  back  and  the  invitation  to  enter 
was  given  in  hearty  tones. 

There  was  something  in  this  family  that  soothed  his 
temper  and  acted  like  a  sedative  to  him. 

He  was  shown  into  the  sitting  room  and  he  noted 
that  he  was  greeted  with  pleasure  and  the  home-like 
feeling  of  being  almost  like  one  of  the  family  satisfied 
him  still  more.  It  was  a  new  experience  to  him,  from 
having  been  a  wanderer  for  so  long.  It  took  him  back 
to  his  own  home  life,  and  the  careful  affection  of  his 
own  mother,  but  this  made  him  wince  again.  Was  he 
the  man  to  disown  the  flesh  and  blood  that  bore  him? 

So  when  Mrs.  Lawrence  came  forward  and  greeted 
him,  he  answered  mechanically  and  took  her  proffered 
hand,  mentally  thinking  what  she  would  say  if  she 
only  knew. 

Then  he  turned  to  Margaret  and  aroused  himself  to 
ask  after  her  health.  He  found  her  convalescent  but 
looking  all  the  lovelier  for  the  slight  pallor  that  mantled 
her  cheek.  She  greeted  him  warmly,  for  if  there  be 
anything  that  stirs  the  affections  even  in  the  coldest 
breast  it  is  that  which  we  feel  towards  the  physician 
who   has   brought  us   from  pain  to  health. 

The  effect  on  a  young  and  ardent  girl,  therefore,  is 
so  much  stronger  as  the  affections  are  glowing,  the 
spirits  high  and  the  imagination  active  and  intense. 
She  blushed  a  little  as  he  took  her  hand,  gravely  felt 
her  pulse,  and  said  with  a  smile,  "All  that  we  need 
now  is  a  little  care.1' 

"Ah,  doctor,  I  consider  that  we  were  very  fortuni 
ate  to  get  you  when  we  did.  The  disease  was  fully 
mastered,  sir,  at  the  start,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  20, 

"What  did  I  tell  you,"  said  Bob,  "it  is  not  the  sys- 
tem, it  is  the  man.  The  fact  is  that  the  doctors  now 
lay  it  down  that  manners  in  a  sick  room  are  a  good 
and  more  efficacious  than  medicine." 

"When  I  was  a  boy,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence,  "they  did 
not  have  diphtheria,  they  called  it  putrid  sore  throat 
and  they  used  to  bleed  people  for  it,  and  blister  them." 

"And  kill  them  before  they  got  through,"  added 
Bob. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know  as  they  did  any  worse  than  they 
do  now.  People  were  sick,  and  then  they  were  well. 
There  isn't  much  difference.  When  they  were  crazy 
they  thought  they  had  devils,  but  this  has  the  sanction 
of  Scripture  for  that.  Christ  cast  out  devils,  and  if  he 
did  then,  why  not  now?"  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 

-"The  Salvation  Army  believes  in  this,  only  they 
thump  a  drum  to  scare  him  away,"  said  Bob.  "The 
Indians  do  the  same." 

"Moses  used  to  have  the  walls  scraped  for  leprosy. 
We  think  that  it  is  a  blood  disease,  but  in  view  of  the 
recent  researches  in  microbes,  why  was  not  Moses 
right?"  continued  Mr.  Lawrence,  earnestly. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  most  of  the  old  lawgiver's 
precepts  are  founded  upon  the  highest  sanitary  wis- 
dom," said  Dr.  Cavallo.  "  Modern  science  is  coming  to 
think  his  way,  even  to  the  practice  of  killing  animals 
for  food,  for  the  German  army  regulations  now  are  about 
adopting  them  almost  in  their  smallest  detail !  " 

"The  Jews,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence,  "are  a  curious  peo- 
ple. There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  the  time 
will  come  when  they  will  acknowledge  Christ  and 
be  gathered  into  the  kingdom.  Then  they  will  reas- 
semble in  Jerusalem    and   we  shall   see   the    greatest 


30  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

spiritual  government  on  earth.  That  they  have  been 
reserved  all  of  these  years  is  only  another  instance  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity.  Only  their  own  blindness  of 
mind  and  hardness  of  heart  has  kept  them  from  the 
light  of  the  'Holy  One  of  Israel.'  " 

Cavallo  made  a  gesture  of  dissent  and  then  fell  into 
his  gloomy  fit  again. 

Bob  laughed  and  said,  "I  told  you,  Doctor,  that 
when  the  governor  got  started  on  the  Jews  there  is  no 
•whoa'  to  him.'' 

"  Robert,  I  wish  that  you  would  learn  to  treat  your 
father  with  more  respect,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 

"Go  on,  father,"  said  Bob,  "I  won't  interrupt." 

With  the  air  of  a  man  who  has  found  his  favorite 
theme,  Mr.  Lawrence  continued. 

,lYou  must  know,  Doctor,  that  the  early  Puritans 
in  New  England  conceived  the  idea  that  their  case 
was  similar  to  the  Jews  and  so  they  took  up  the  teach- 
ings of  Moses  and  applied  them  to  themselves.  I  was 
taught  when  young  that  it  was  wrong  to  have  a  fire  on 
the  Sabbath  day  unless  it  was  a  case  of  necessity.  The 
meeting  house  was  never  warmed  except  by  a  foot 
stove  for  the  comfort  of  the  very  old.  We  used  to 
shiver  all  through  the  sermon,  which  sometimes  would 
be  three  hours  long,  and  was  never  less  than  two 
hours.1' 

"Holy  smoke,"  said  Bob,  rt  these  fifteen  minute  chaps 
would  not  have  stood  much  of  a  chance  to  get  a  con- 
gregation then,  would  they?" 

"Saturday  afternoon  we  had  to  put  away  our  things 
when  the  sun  went  down  and  come  into  the  house  and 
read  our  Bible  until  bed  time.  Sundays,  a  slight  meal 
in  the  morning,  then  church,  then  a  cold  lunch  if  we 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3  I 

got  any  thing,  then  afternoon  service.  Then  we  stood 
up  around  father  and  said  the  shorter  catechism  or  we 
sang  psalms  until  dark  and  then  we  went  to  evening 
meeting.  But  after  sundown  the  strictness  was  re- 
laxed and  all  the  young  fellows  went  to  see  their  girls." 

11  This  was  some  compensation,  at  any  rate,"  put  in 
Bob. 

M  In  the  week  days  we  went  to  Wednesday  evening 
prayer  meeting  and  monthly  concert,  where  we  heard 
about  the  heathen.  This  was  the  way  that  the  New 
England  youths  were  brought  up,  and  it  is  the  found- 
ation, sir,  of  the  sturdy  men  and  of  the  independence 
of  this  nation.  All  of  the  quotations  were  made  from 
the  Bible,  and  the  dagger  of  Ehud  and  the  sword 
of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  had  a  good  deal  to  do 
in  achieving  the  independence  of  these  colonies." 

u  I  believe  that  I  have  imbibed  some  of  father's 
spirit,  for  I  have  always  felt  the  greatest  enthusiasm  for 
the  Jews,"  said  Margaret. 

Cavallo  turned  upon  her  a  glance  of  astonishment  and 
admiration. 

"  If  I  were  a  Jewish  maiden,"  she  continued,  "  I  should 
be  proud  of  such  a  glorious  race.  I  should  prize  above 
everything  the  descent  from  Miriam  and  Deborah. 
Here  is  a  patent  of  nobility  that  far  outranks  any 
other, —  a  patent  that  comes  down  in  the  very  word  of 
God  himself,  and  has  the  divine  sanction.  The  deliver- 
ance of  women  comes  not  from  the  texts  of  the  latter- 
day  philosophy,  but  from  the  very  inception  of  the 
race  ;  from  her  who  '  sounded  the  loud  timbrel  oyer 
Egypt's  dark  sea  ;'  from  her  'who  judged  Israel  forty 
years.7  To  be  ashamed  of  this  heritage,  as  were  some 
of  my  Jewish  schoolmates,  is   to   be  ashamed   of  all 


32  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

that  is  greatest  and  best  in  history,  to  be  ashamed  of 
the  influences  that  have  blessed  the  world,  and  given 
rise  to  the  greatest  prophets  and  the  greatest  law- 
givers, the  wisest  statesmen  and  the  loftiest  poets  !  " 

"  Hooray,  hooray  !  Hear,  hear.  Daniel  in  the  lion's 
den  ;  Judith  with  the  head  of  Holofernes ;  Lot's  wife 
and  the  pillar  of  salt.  Who  had  supposed  that 
Meg  had  so  much  poetry  wrapped  up  in  her  soul  ? 
What  do  you  say  to  that,  doctor  ?  Doesn't  that  stir 
your  blood  ?" 

Cavallo  had  risen,  and  his  pale  cheek  glowed  with 
the  flush  of  his  feelings.  The  girl  whom  he  had  thought 
would  despise  and  spurn  him  because  of  his  race,  had 
risen  to  point  out  to  him  the  path  of  duty.  It  sud- 
denly showed  him  a  strength  of  character,  a  purpose 
lofty  and  heroic,  that  thrilled  him  like  an  electric 
shock. 

"Stir  my  blood  ?  indeed  it  does,"  he  cried.  "It  is 
a  voice  to  me  out  of  heaven,  for  I  —  I  am  a  Jew." 


CHAPTER  V. 


There  was  a  pause,  and  for  a  time  no  one  spoke. 
The  kitchen  girl  had  come  in  with  coal  for  the 
grate,  and  as  she  stirred  the  ashes  and  shook  down  the 
embers,  every  one  felt  a  sense  of  relief  for  the  inter- 
ruption. Cavallo,  himself,  experienced  a  great  feeling 
of  exultation.  His  secret  was  revealed,  and  he  drew 
himself  up  with  a  proud  air  of  defiance.  His  nerves 
tingled,  and  he  realized  that  emotion  which  comes  to 
a  man  after  the  first  shock  of  battle  has  passed  —  as  if 
he  wished  now  to  rush  inter  the  fray.  He  had  erected 
the  barrier  which  the  prejudice  of  past  ages  had  fur- 
nished, and  he  felt,  for  the  moment,  how  great  was  the 
interval  which  those  few  words  had  made  between 
them. 

Mr.  Lawrence  was  the  first  to  break  silence.  "  My 
dear  sir,  I  am  very  glad  to  know  this.  Now,  tell  me  all 
about  the  Talmud." 

Bob  burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter.  u  Father  reminds 
me  of  the  little  daughter  of  a  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man. A  visitor  called  one  day  to  see  her  father, 
and  found  no  one  at  home  but  this  little  girl,  aged  ten. 
He  asked  if  her  father  was  in.  'No,'  she  said,  'you 
poor  sinner,  but  if  it  is  your  sins  that  you  come  to  in- 
quire about,  come  right  in.  I  understand  the  whole 
scheme  of  salvation,  and  I  will  give  it  to  you.'  " 

"  I  do  not  see,  sir,"  remarked  his  father,  "what  there 
is  wrong  in  asking  about  the  Talmud." 


34  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"You  seem  to  think,"  said  Bob,  "that  the  Talmud 
is  a  book  that  you  can  read  in  the  course  of  two  days.1' 

"Well,  if  it  is   not   that,  what  is  it?" 

"  Why,"  he  answered,  "  it  is  a  series  of  books.  There 
are  some  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  in  number.  It 
took  a  thousand  years  to  compose  them,  and  they  com- 
bine all  the  wisdom  of  a  thousand  years, —  text,  com- 
mentary, parable,  deduction,  with  a  smattering  of 
everything  under  the  sun  —  history,  geography,  soci- 
ology, a  treatise  on  all  knowledge." 

With  the  habitual  reticence  of  the  Jew  on  matters  con- 
cerning his  faith,  Cavallo  had  listened  with  ill-concealed 
impatience.  Finally,  he  said,  "The  true  Jew  does  not 
seek  to  impose  his  religious  views  upon  others.  He  is 
not  engaged,  like  the  rest  of  the  world,  in  proselytizing. 
His  religion  is  a  matter  between  himself  and  his  God, 
and  he  seeks  no  intermediary.  We  believe  that  religion 
is  a  question  of  individual  conscience.  We  do  not  seek 
proselytes."  , 

"The  fact  is,"  laughed  Bob,  "our  people  are  always 
trying  to  convert  somebody.  The  Methodist  is  trying 
to  convert  the  Baptist,  the  Presbyterian  is  trying  to  win 
over  the  Universalist ;  the  Episcopalian  who  believes  in 
high  church  looks  upon  the  low  churchman  as  little 
better  than  an  outsider  ;  while,  when  all  is  done,  the 
Salvation  Army  comes  along,  and  sweeps  in  every  one 
who  has  escaped  from  the  churches  and  taken  to  the 
streets.  As  for  the  Christian  Scientists,  they  do  not 
believe  in  anything  but  perfect  absorption  in  their  work, 
and  relegate  everyone  else  to  the  '  demnition  bow 
wows/  " 

"  Why  do  not  the  Jews  believe  in  conversions  ? " 
asked  Mrs.  Lawrence. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  35 

"The  lofty  conception  of  the  Jew,"  replied  Cavallo, 
"  is  too  great  to  stoop  to  the  arts  of  the  propagandist. 
His  God  lives  serene  and  high,  the  Ruler,  the  Creator 
of  heaven  and  earth.  Time  and  again  the  old  prophets 
inculcate  the  idea  that  he  was  only  satisfied  with  a  con- 
trite heart  and  an  humble  spirit.  To  live  in  strict 
obedience  to  the  law,  to  worship  him,  with  a  life  of  jus- 
tice, charity  and  peace  to  all  men  ;  to  contemplate  him 
was  the  highest  conception  of  perfection,  and  to  study 
his  law  with  the  sole  endeavor  to  continually  reach  a 
purer  and  higher  ideal.  This  is  true  Judaism,  a  practice 
that  is  consistent  with  every  advance  in  civilization, 
every  discovery  of  science,  every  step  made  for 
humanity.  '  Be  of  them  that  are  persecuted  rather  than 
of  them  that  persecute,'  may  have  been  startlingly 
new  to  the  pagan  Roman,  but  it  was  known  to  the  Jews 
long  before  the  advent  of  Christianity.  With  this  feel- 
ing, the  true  Jew  shrinks  from  the  noisy  clamour  of  the 
sects  whose  only  stock  phrase  is  'believe.1  With  him 
religion  is  progressive,  and  is  to  be  realized  only  by  an 
uncompromising  life  of  piety  and  virtue.  To  depart 
from  it  in  a  single  instance  is  to  profane  this  sentiment, 
and  to  defile  his  thoughts  is  a  sin.  As  for  himself,  he 
does  not  understand  how  it  is  possible  for  a  particle 
of  bread,  under  certain  conditions,  to  transform  the 
whole  physical  frame,  and  without  contrition  or  acts 
indicating  a  desire  for  a  higher  life,  take  the  partakers 
into  heaven  —  winning  it  by  a  trick,  so  to  speak." 

Margaret  listened  with  absorbing  interest.  It  was  to 
her  a  revelation,  for  she  had  no  idea  that  the  ancient 
religion  was  anything  more  than  unmeaning  rites. 

As  for  Mr.  Lawrence,  he  was  bewildered.  He  had 
an  idea  that  all  the  matters  of  belief,  all  the  higher 


36  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

sentiments,  had  come  in  with  the  new  dispensation,  and 
that  the  Jewish  ceremonies  were  a  mass  of  puerile 
forms  to  which  the  race  clung  because  they  were  under 
a  curse,  like  the  spell  of  the  witches  of  the  middle  ages, 
which  they  would  one  day  shake  off,  when  the  right 
moment  came.  To  find  that  they  were  actuated  by 
pure  morality  and  an  earnest  desire  for  truth  was  some- 
thing that  never  crossed  his  mind.  He  always  prayed 
for  the  Jews,  coupling  them  and  the  heathen  together, 
but  he  had  never  been  instructed  as  to  why  they 
specially  needed  his  prayers,  except  that  they  would 
not  see  that  the  Messiah  had  already  come. 

"Judaism,"  said  Cavallo,  thoughtfully,  "is  the  in- 
spiration of  humanity  itself,  for  it  alone  satisfies  the 
conditions  of  a  pure  conception  of  the  Creator,  high, 
serene,  faultless,  merciful,  but  dealing  with  his  children 
by  means  of  immutable  law.  Upon  this  tenet  is  the 
faith  founded  —  immutable  law.  Sin  must  and  will  be 
punished.  To  escape  it  the  sinner  must  not  sin.  He 
must  keep  the  law,  and  to  keep  the  law  he  must  lead  a 
pure  and  blameless  life.  The  essence  of  Judaism  is 
therefore  not  in  leading  a  life  of  indifference  and  care- 
lessness and  then  at  the  last  moment  by  mumbling 
some  prayer  or  by  purchasing  the  favor  of  the  church, 
get  into  heaven  by  a  side  door  and  thus  cheat  the  devil. 
High,  lofty  and  ennobling,  the  Jew  rises  to  the  full  con- 
ception of  his  duty.  By  a  life  of  study  and  thought 
he  prepares  his  mind  for  instruction  and  removes  it 
from  the  gross  and  heavy  cares  that  afflict  the  soul  and 
weigh  it  down. 

"Long  before  Humboldt  enunciated  it,  the  rabbis 
taught  that  the  universe  is  law.  Long  before  Newton 
demonstrated  that  the  principle  of  gravitation  operated 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  37 

upon  all  things,  the  rabbis  insisted  that  the  universe  is 
held  in  place  by  eternal  principles,  the  violation  of  any, 
even  the  smallest  of  which,  would  produce  chaos.1' 

"Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a  Jew,1'  para- 
phrased Bob. 

"  It  was  this  lofty  ideal  that  inspired  the  mind  of  the 
great  Baruch  Spinoza,'1  continued  Cavallo,  "  and  guided 
him  on  in  his  pursuit  of  that  philosophy  by  which  he 
lighted  the  torch  of  investigation  and  illuminated  the 
path  along  which  Goethe,  following  after,  transformed 
modern  Europe  and  set  in  motion  a  train  of  events  that 
have  not  yet  ceased  to  operate.  Why  the  great  Mai- 
monides  himself  said  that  the  Bible  must  be  construed 
in  line  with  known  facts.  If  it  differed  from  these  its 
saying  must  be  conceived  to  be  allegorical.  This  was 
in  the  twelfth  century.  He  is  the  great  light  of  medi- 
aeval Judaism.  So  far  was  he  ahead  of  any  Christian 
writer  that  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  the  sects  that  then 
filled  Europe  could  even  understand  him,  much  less 
follow  in  his  footsteps." 

"Why,  this  is  certainly  extraordinary;  but  my 
dear  doctor,  where  in  the  world  is  a  man  to  find  all  of 
this,  for  this  is  something  quite  new?"  inquired  Mr. 
Lawrence. 

"  Consider  for.  a  moment  what  Jewish  philosophy 
means,1'  replied  the  other.  "  Any  other  nation  numbers 
its  writers  by  a  small  group  and  their  work  is  crowded 
into  a  few  years.  The  whole  Grecian  cult  is  but  about 
six  centuries.  The  Roman  literature  does  not  coyer 
a  much  longer  period,  for  it  speedily  became  corrupt 
under  the  imperial  rule.  German  literature  was  so 
rude  even  in  the  days  of  Frederick  the  Great  that  he 
would  not  speak  the  language  of  his  mother  tongue, 


38  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

but  said  it  was  only  fit  for  the  pigs.  English  literature 
dates  from  the  days  of  good  Queen  Bess,  and  she  lived 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  Jewish  literature  comes 
down  in  an  unbroken  line  from  the  days  of  Moses,  for 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  great  lawgiver  laid  down 
those  rules  that  have  been  the  admiration  of  all  suc- 
ceeding ages.  These  rules  were  given  seven  hundred 
years  before  Homer,  and  how  they  dwarf  the  senti- 
ments expressed  in  the  old  Grecian  bard  with  its  sav- 
age details  of  slaughter  —  its  ill-treatment  of  its  cap- 
tives and  its  private  revenges." 

"The  Jews  were  not  much  behind.  See  how  Samuel 
served  Agag,"  Bob  put  in. 

"Yes,  all  of  which  proves  that  the  code  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  age.  The  Mosaic  code  says  'thou  shalt 
not  oppress  the  stranger,  for  thou  wast  a  bondman  in 

Egypt.' " 

"What  a  magnificent  rule  of  mercy  is  that,"  replied 
Cavallo.  "  No  other  creed  ever  came  up  to  it  and  it 
was  given  when  all  the  world  was  wrapped  in  bar- 
barism. Can  any  one  blame  the  old  rabbis  for  be- 
lieving that  a  thing  that  was  so  far  advanced,  so  great,  so 
beneficent,  so  filled  with  the  highest  truth,  must  have 
been  communicated  by  God  himself  in  the  thunders  of 
Mt.  Sinai." 

"  I  believe  it  was,"  said  Mr.  Lawrence. 

"  Be  careful,  father,  or  the  doctor  will  have  you  in  the 
synagogue  with  a  praying  shawl  around  your  neck 
chanting  Hebrew,"  interrupted  Bob.  "You  would  make 
a  fine  old  rabbi." 

"In  addition  to  this,"  said  Cavallo,  continuing,  for 
he  saw  that  Margaret  was  listening  to  him,  and  this  was 
a  direct  spur  to  his   thoughts,  "the  Jewish  faith  is  the 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  39 

only  one  that  is  progressive.  Every  other  one  starts 
with  the  idea  that  the  whole  truth  has  been  revealed, 
that  man  has  been  told  all  that  he  can  ever  know,  and 
there  is  no  progress  possible.  For  two  thousand  years 
the  Christian  church  has  been  steadily  fighting  science. 
When  it  was  not  roasting  Jews,  it  was  hunting  victims 
who  taught  that  the  earth  was  round,  that  the  sun  is 
the  center  of  our  solar  system,  that  the  sun  and  moon 
did  not  stand  still  and  that  the  phenomenon  of  nature 
cannot  be  changed  by  the  exorcism  of  a  priest.  The 
Jews  were  constantly  enlarging  the  bounds  of  knowl- 
edge. The  doctrine  of  evolution  with  them  had  full 
play.  The  code  of  Moses  was  enlarged  by  the  oral 
law.  The  oral  law  was  enlarged  by  the  commentaries 
and  those  in  turn  were  supplemented  by  new  declara- 
tions. Such  men  as  Maimonides  laid  down  principles 
far  in  advance  of  their  time,  and  their  teachings  were 
received  by  the  great  body  of  their  countrymen.  The 
vitality  of  Judaism  consists  in  this  fact,  that  it  has  ad- 
vanced not  always  as  rapidly  as  it  should,  but  as 
rapidly  as  it  was  able  to  perceive  the  truth.  It  has,  to 
use  an  expression,  grown  like  a  tree,  always  at  the  top, 
and  the  lower  branches  have  steadily  decayed  and 
dropped  off.  This  is  what  makes  it  the  hope  of  the 
future.1' 

"The  hope  of  the  future,"  objected  Bob.  "You  are 
putting  it  pretty  strong." 

"  Because  it,  and  it  alone,  offers  the  conditions  of 
advancement.  The  religious  principle  is  the  one  thing 
in  man's  nature  that  has  resisted  the  shock  of  time.  It 
is  a  necessary  part  of  him,  and  it  must  and  will  make 
itself  felt.  Judaism  is  the  only  belief  that  matches  the 
latest  scientific  facts.     That  is,  the    feeling   that   there 


40  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

is  an  overwhelming,  overmastering  force  in  the  world, 
who  rules  it  by  means  of  fixed  and  definite  laws.  This, 
science  is  beginning  to  express  and  formulate.  Now, 
it  is  impossible  to  prevent  the  human  mind  from  ex- 
pressing its  sense  of  depending  upon  this  force  in  some 
form  or  other.  The  notion  that  it  can  be  propitiated 
by  some  sort  of  subterfuge,  by  saying  so  many  prayers, 
or  by  telling  beads,  or  by  professing  that  by  means  of 
a  mediator  its  laws  can  be  set  aside  and  the  punish- 
ment that  follows  sin  avoided,  is  to  the  Jew  rank  heresy 
—  nothing  more  nor  less." 

"This  is  deism  pure  and  simple,"  interposed  Mr. 
Lawrence,  on  whom  this  philosophy  was  almost  lost. 

"You  may  call  it  what  you  like,  but  it  is  modern 
Judaism,  and  it  is  consistent  with  the  broadest  humani- 
tarian ideas.  This  sentiment  does  not  content  itself 
with  flinging  a  penny  to  the  beggar,  and  satisfied  that 
it  has  condoned  a  sin  by  its  charity,  takes  its  way  along, 
giving  the  subject  no  further  thought,  but  it  goes  down 
into  the  slums  and  cleanses  them.  It  feels  that  as  long 
as  one  human  being  lacks  the  necessities  of  life  its  mis- 
sion is  not  fulfilled.  It  brings  to  this  work  the  best 
scientific  instruction.  It  protests  against  corruption  in 
the  government,  against  filth  in  the  streets,  against  ill- 
crowded  apartments,  against  oppression  everywhere. 
It  lifts  its  voice  against  wrong,  and  it  is  not  satisfied 
with  temporary  measures,  but  it  wants  to  go  to  the  root 
of  the  matter.  I  say,  as  the  rabbis  said  of  old,  that 
every  one  engaged  in  the  work  of  uplifting  humanity 
will  have  a  share  in  the  future  life,  no  matter  what 
church  he  belongs  to,  what  creed  he  professes ;  for 
he  has  subscribed  to  the  great  principle,  the  vital,  liv- 
ing soul  of  Judaism  ! " 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  4 1 

"  It  is  not  Judaism,  but  Christianity,  that  should  re- 
ceive the  credit  for  this/'  insisted  Mr.  Lawrence. 

"  All  that  is  best  in  Christianity,1'  replied  Cavallo, 
41  it  took  from  Judaism  ;  its  charity,  its  fellowship,  its 
elevation  of  women,  its  hope,  its  better  impulses. 
When  it  absorbed  the  domineering  principles,  the  old 
beliefs,  the  worship  of  images,  of  dependence  upon  a 
mediator,  it  fell  away  from  the  old  faith,  and,  in  this, 
fails  to  answer  the  altered  conditions  of  the  human 
mind.  In  so  far  it  is  not  progressive.  The  Jew  has 
always  been  as  far  in  the  vanguard  of  religious  thought 
as  he  has  in  commerce,  law,  medicine  and  the  arts,  and  it 
is  because  he  is  progressive  that  he  represents  the  high- 
est aspiration,  not  only  of  this  but  of  all  ages.  People 
who  see  him  with  his  curls  plastered  on  his  temples  and 
his  phylacteries  bound  on  his  forehead  and  his  arm, 
may  laugh  at  him,  but  these  are  the  links  that  bind  him 
to  the  past  and  that  save  him  from  being  swept  en- 
tirely away.  They  teach  him,  at  all  events,  respect  for 
law." 

"Well,"  said  Bob,  "  this  is  as  good  as  anything  that 
St.  Paul  ever  wrote.  I  am  going  to  copy  it  off,  and 
head  it,  4The  Gospel  of  St.  Cavallo  to  the  Lawrences.'  " 

The  doctor  felt  annoyed.  He  had  been  carried  away 
by  the  warmth  of  his  feelings,  and  his  pent-up  spirits 
led  him  to  say  far  more  than  he  intended,  and  far 
more  than  he  would  have  done  at  any  other  time  and 
place.  He  detested  discussion  and  hated  debate,  most 
of  all  a  discussion  upon  these  matters.  He  had  pon- 
dered over  them  long  and  thoroughly,  and  he  had  come 
to  some  conclusions  about  them,  but  Bob's  remark 
smote  upon  his  ear. 

Mr.  Lawrence  took  up  the  thread  of  the  discourse, 


42  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

and  gave  a  long  lecture  upon  what  he  considered  the 
true  status  of  the  question,  openly  saying  that  the  time 
would  come  when  the  Jews  would  seek  the  promised 
land. 

This  led  Bob  to  make  a  good-natured  calculation  as 
to  how  many  the  promised  land  would  hold,  and  what 
they  would  do  when  they  got  there,  and  various  other 
sarcastic  remarks  tending  to  discredit  his  father's 
theory. 

Mr.  Lawrence,  however,  was  too  full  of  his  subject  to 
mind  the  reflections  cast  upon  his  ideas  by  his  son. 
Having  conceived  that  the  Jews  were  ultimately  to  be 
redeemed  and  saved  according  to  the  formula  laid 
down  in  the  books,  it  was  now  merely  a  question  of 
time  with  him.  To  be  sure  certain  contingencies  came 
up,  such  as  the  battle  of  Armageddon,  the  beast  with 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  the  valley  of  dry  bones,  and 
the  other  mystic  notions,  much  dwelt  on  by  those 
writers  who  wish  to  reduce  the  visions  in  the  books  of 
Daniel  and  Ezekiel  to  the  exactness  of  a  mathematical 
formula. 

Little  heed  did  Cavallo  pay  to  them.  His  thoughts 
were  far  away.  He  leaned  his  head  upon  his  hand  and 
gave  himself  up  to  reverie. 

Margaret  alone  saw  that  he  was  disturbed,  and  she 
said,  timidly : 

'*  Doctor,  you  have  given  us  all  new  light.  What  you 
have  said  is,  indeed,  a  revelation,  and  I  can  understand 
what  is  meant  when  it  speaks  of  one  whose  lips  have 
been  touched  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar. 
What  a  glorious  future  you  have  before  you." 

Cavallo  looked  at  her  inquiringly. 

She  went  on:    "Why,  to  live  this  ideal  life  —  to  ex- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  43 

emplify  it,  to  show  the  world  that  the  conception  of 
the  Jew  is  a  higher  and  nobler  one  than  those  who 
sneer  at  him  ;  to  be  able  to  say  with  just  pride  '  I  am  a 
Jew,  and  as  such,  I  challenge  all  the  world  to  surpass 
me  in  the  high  attributes  that  adorn  humanity,  and  that 
illustrate  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood 
of  Man.'  " 

His  enthusiasm  rose,  his  eye  sparkled,  and  his  breast 
heaved.  "You  recall  me  to  myself,"  he  cried.  "  I  will 
do  it.  To  live  this  life,  yes,  this  is,  indeed,  god-like  ; 
and  one  who  strives,  even  though  he  falls  short,  may 
well  say,  i  I  have  done  all  that  may  become  a  man  !'  " 

The  subject  was  too  much,  and  he  stopped.  Then  he 
added,  in  a  lower  tone  to  her,  "You  have  been  my  in- 
spiration, my  better  angel." 

She  held  out  her  hand  to  him.  "You  need  no  in- 
spiration," she  softly  answered,  "  but  no  wavering." 

The  conversation  lagged.  Bob  descended  to  trivial- 
ities, and,  finally,  the  doctor  took  his  leave. 

As  he  went  out  no  one  spoke,  until  Mr.  Lawrence 
arose  and  stirred  the  fire  in  the  grate  vigorously.  Then 
he  said : 

"Splendid  fellow,  that  doctor,  and  can't  he  talk, 
though.     What  a  great  pity  it  is  that  he  is  a  Jew." 

"Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Bob.  "It  don't  make 
much  difference  nowadays.  These  Jews  get  on.  They 
all  make  money  and  enjoy  themselves.  For  my  part, 
I  think  about  as  much  of  a  man  if  he  is  a  Jew  as  if  he 
isn't." 

"A  man  is  pretty  much  what  his  mother's  creed 
makes  him.  He  may  think  that  he  has  outgrown  it, 
but  in  middle  age  and  in  old  age,  particularly,  he  comes 
back  to  it.      Heredity  is  a  great  deal   stronger   than 


44  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

grace.  Put  four  thousand  years  of  breeding  behind 
a  man,  and  what  is  he  going  to  do  ?" 

"What  do  you  think  of  him,  now,  Margaret  ?"  in- 
quired her  mother. 

Margaret  did  not  reply  for  the  moment.  She  was 
engaged  in  looking  into  the  fire.  Then  she  said, 
slowly,  "  I  think  as  father  does,  that  it  is  a  great  pity 
that  he  is  a  Jew,  but  what  a  mistake  there  would  have 
been  if  he  had  been  born  anything  else  ?" 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Mr.  Timothy  Dodd  sat  in  Dr.  Cavallo's  office  looking 
the  picture  of  solid  satisfaction.  He  wore  one  of  the 
doctor's  cast  off  suits  which  fitted  him  tolerably  well. 
He  had  a  silk  hat  on  his  head  which  he  always  put  on 
when  the  doctor  went  out.  and  carefully  took  off 
again  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  doctor  coming  back.  Now 
he  had  swept  the  office,  dusted  it,  built  a  fire,  and  draw- 
ing up  a  chair,  he  proceeded  to  light  one  of  the  doc- 
tor's cigars  and  smoke  it  with  an  apparent  relish. 

Timothy  had  begun  life  at  the  very  foot  of  the  lad- 
der. As  soon  as  he  could  toddle  he  sold  papers;  then 
he  blackened  boots.  He  was  getting  a  little  too  large 
for  this  occupation  when  he  attracted  the  notice  of  Dr. 
Cavallo,  who  took  him  in  as  stable  boy,  and  all  around 
helper  generally.  He  was  very  subservient  at  the  be- 
ginning, but  lately  he  had  begun  to  put  on  airs,  and 
now  whatever  the  doctor  owned  he  considered  belonged 
to  them  both  ;  he  smoked  his  cigars  on  the  sly.  and 
was  rapidly  growing  into  a  vast  conceit  with  himself. 

He  picked  up  the  morning  paper  and  settled  himself 
down  in  the  chair  with  due  professional  gravity,  when 
the  door  opened  and  a  thin,  pale  faced  woman  came  in. 

She  bore  the  marks  of  hard  work  ;  her  hands  showed 
that  she  had  spent  many  a  day  at  the  wash  tub,  and  her 
face  was  marked  by  those  heavy  lines  that  come  early 
and  stay  late  on  people  of  her  class. 


46  -  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Timothy  saw  her  and  he  became  twice  as  dignified  as 
before,  and  only  said,  "Take  a  sate,  Mrs.  O'Hara.  It's 
the  dochter  ye  want,  I'm  thinkin'." 

Mrs.  O'Hara  broke  out  at  once  : 

"  It's  him,  the  blessed  man;  I'm  that  sick  I  cud  faint, 
and  there's  me  old  man  doubled  up  with  the  rheuma- 
tics, and  wid  a  pain  in  his  back." 

"Pain  in  his  back?"  echoed  Tim.  "He  have  plum- 
bago, luk  out,  its  ketchin'." 

"  Phat's  that  ye  say,  Tim?"    she  inquired  anxiously. 

"Mrs.  O'Hara,"  returned  Tim,  "whin  a  man  is  de- 
votin'  his  days  to  the  interest  of  his  profession  and  his 
noits  to  the  study  of  the  principles  of  science,  its  little 
enough  that  you  moit  gev  him  a  title  showin'  jue  re- 
spict,  if  not  to  the  man,  at  laist  to  the  intilligence  that 
he's  sthrivin'  after.  There  air  people  in  the  worrld  that 
do  be  callin'  me  Misther  Dodd." 

"Saints  preserve  us,"  rejoined  the  old  lady.  "Whin 
did  the  young  rooster  get  his  spurs.  Luk  at  that,  and 
luk  at  that.  I,  who  was  prisint  at  his  birth  whin  his 
mother,  God  rist  her  sowl,  did'nt  have  the  wealth  of  a 
second-hand  blanket  to  wrap  him  in.  '  Misther  Dodd,' 
indade.  Could  ye  git  a  bucket  large  enough,  young 
feller,  to  soak  yer  hid." 

"  Janious  is  ever  the  child  of  poverty,  Mrs.  O'Hara," 
said  Tim,  who  knew  that  it  would  never  do  to  get  the 
old  woman  started  on  his  pedigree. 

"The  Doddses  have  been  nursed  by  affliction  and  wint 
hungry  through  want,  but  they  niver  complained  and 
they  always  came  to  the  fore  with  ideas,  which  is,  in 
the  long  run,  worth  more  than  dollars.  It  is  not  boast- 
in'  I  am,"  he  added,  seeing  that  the  old  lady  was  about 
to  start  in  again,  "but  I  am  studying  the  science  of 
medsin." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  47 

"Ye  air,  air  ye.  Well,  now,  Tim,  that's  a  good  thing, 
too,  an'  I  trust  ye'll  do  well  at  it." 

"Its  not  a  light  thing,  Mrs.  O'Hara.  In  the  first 
place,  ye  have  to  master  the  essentials,  then  ye  take  up 
the  corporosities,  and  after  ye  have  that  ye  are  in  a  fit 
condition  to  ondersthand  the  perdicamints.  Ye  air  then, 
Mrs.  O'Hara,  as  ye  might  say,  on  the  very  treshold 
of  the  science.  After  that,  when  ye  have  the  essen- 
tials and  the  corporosities  and  the  perdicamints  down 
foine,  as  ye  may  say,  ye  may  begin  on  the  treshold  of 
the  thary  of  medsin.  No  sooner  do  ye  get  that, 
then,  but  not  till  then,  do  ye  begin  worruk  on  the 
practice.  You  may  do  all  of  this,  havin',  as  I  said  be- 
fure,  the  essentials  and  the  corporosites  and  the  pre- 
dicamints  and  the  thary,  but  widout  the  practice  ye 
might  stharve  to  death.*  There  air  those,  to  be  sure, 
who  begin  at  the  practice  without  having  mastered  the 
others,  and  thim,  Mrs.  O'Hara,  is  quacks.  But  ye  hev 
to  study,  Mrs.  O'Hara.  Take  the  dochter,  now,  he 
knows  siven  languages." 

"Does  he,  and  phat  are  they  ?" 

"In  the  furrst  place,  he  knows  American,  and  thin  he 
knows  English,  and  after  that  he  knows  German,  and 
thin  comes  High  Dootch,  and  following  that  is  low 
Dootch  and  thin  Dootch.1' 

"That's  six,"  said  Mrs.  O'Hara,  who  had  kept  count. 

"Yes,  in  addition  to  that  he  knows  how  to  write 
orthers  for  the  droog  sthures.  Ye  might  go  up  and 
down,  and  down  and  up,  Mrs.  O'Hara,  and  find  men 
otherwise  well  educated  who  couldn't  by  any  man- 
ner of  means  read  the  orthers  on  a  droog  sthure." 

"They's  writ  in  Latin,"  remarked  Mrs.  O'Hara, 
"same  as  the  blissid  prayer  book." 


48  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"There's  where  ye  make  a  mistake  and  fall  into  an 
error,  Mrs.  O'Hara,"  said  Tim.  "  I  asked  the  dochter 
if  they  was  Latin,  and  he  said  anything  but  Latin,  an' 
he  knows." 

"Tim,"  cried  the  old  lady  in  a  burst  of  admiration, 
"ye  talk  like    a  scule  master.     Air  ye  far  on  to  it?1' 

"I  am  jist  troo  wid  the  essentials  and  am  gettin'  on 
to  the  corporosities.  A  man  came  in  here  the  other 
day,  and  sez  he  to  me,  sez  he,  'Misther  Dodd,'"  for 
Tim  wanted  to  impress  the  old  lady  that  she  ought  to 
call  him  by  his  title.  "'Misther  Dood,'  says  he,  'I 
do  be  bavin'  an  appendix.'  Ah,  ha,  says  I,  cut  it  aff, 
says  I,  and  Dr.  Cavalloo  burst  out  laughin',  says  he, 
•Tim,  ye  couldn't  hev  giv  a  better  answer  nor  that,  if 
ye  had  all  the  laming  of  the  siven  colleges  in  your 
hid.' " 

"It's  an  aisy  life,"  said  Mrs.  O'Hara,  looking  around 
and  contrasting  it  with  what  she  knew  of  the  hardships 
of  a  laborer's  lot. 

"  Is  it,"  sneered  Tim,  contemptuously,  "  much  you 
know  about  it.  In  the  first  place,  you  have  to  be  that 
quick  that  a  minit  a  man  comes  in  here  you  can  clap 
yer  eye  on  him,  and  say,  'That  man  is  sick.'  " 

"  Af  coorse,"  replied  Mrs.  O'Hara,  contemptuously,  in 
her  turn,  "he  wuldn't  be  comin'  here  unless  he  was 
sick." 

"  Wudn't  he,"  returned  Tim,  triumphantly.  "  Listen 
to  the  ignorance  of  her.  Why,  here's  the  place  they 
come  ;  and  the  doctor  sez,  sez  he,  there  is  siveral  kinds 
of  disayses  that  affects  us.  There's  fevers  and  there's 
colds,  and  there's  janders  and  there's  sickness.  Now, 
ye  hev  to  be  that  quick  that  you  can  tell  whin  a  man 
has  janders  or  whin  he  is  only  sick.1' 


DOCTOR    CWALLO  49 

"  But  what  wuld  a  man  be  comin'  up  here  for  pro- 
vidin1  he  was  well  ?" 

Tim  looked  cautiously  around  to  see  that  no  one  was 
listening,  and  then  he  said,  mysteriously,  "  Insurance." 

"Whin  his  house  burns  down?1'  said  she,  with  a 
puzzled  air. 

"  No,"  said  Tim,  more  mysteriously  than  ever,  "whin 
he  is  a  chate.  Sh — h.  Mony  a  man  with  a  big  policy 
has  cum  up  these  stairs  pretendin'  to  be  dead,  demand- 
in'  his  money,  whin  the  docther  takes  wan  luk  at  him, 
and  sez,  sezs  he,  fixin'  his  glitterin'  eye  on  him,  '  Ye're 
a  liar,'  says  he,  'git  out,'  and  they  go  down  that  there 
stairs  as  well  as  ever  they  was  in  their  life.  Mrs. 
O'Hara,  if  it  wasn't  for  the  honesty  of  that  man  and 
his  assistant,  if  I  do  say  it  meself,  there  wuldn't  be  wan 
sthroke  of  wurrk  done  in  this  town,  but  every  man  wuld 
be  livin'  on  weekly  wages,  drawn  from  the  insurance 
societies.  Whin  a  man  devotes  his  time  and  his  bodily 
powers,  Mrs.  O'Hara,  to  buildin'  up  his  intilligence,  it's 
little  enough  that  people  can  do  is  to  takeoff  their  hats 
to  him.  It  isn't  that  I  care  to  be  called  lMisther' 
Dodd,  but  it's  the  rispict  due  to  the  profession." 

Mrs.  O'Hara  paid  no  attention  to  this  hint.  She 
wasn't  going  to  call  a  boy  that  she  had  known  ever 
since  he  was  able  to  build  mud  pies,  and  whom  she  had 
often  chased  out  of  her  back  yard  with  a  broom,  by  any 
such  title.  So  she  sighed  heavily,  and  said,  "I  wish 
the  doctor  would  come.  My  old  man  is  that  sick  that 
I  fear  to  lave  him  alone." 

"It  is  plumbago,"  said  Tim  again.  "What  he  needs 
is  physic." 

"  For  a  pain  in  the  back  ?  Get  out,"  returned  the 
old  lady.     "  Phat  he  needs  is  something  to  rub  on." 


50  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"Ye'll  axcuse  me,  Mrs.  O'Hara,"  said  Tim,  "thesay- 
cret  of  disayse  is  to  expel  the  humors  from  the  body. 
Physic  is  the  groundwurrk  of  the  thary  of  medsin, 
and  widout  it  the  noble  profession  wud  fall  to  the 
ground." 

"  Get  out,1'  she  said,  "  it's  little  you  know  about  it." 

"Ye  don't  know  me,  Mrs,  O'Hara,"  returned  Tim. 
"  Before  many  years  that  sign  that  now  hangs  out  of 
dures  will  contain  the  names  of  4  Cavalloo  &  Dodd, 
Physicians  and  Sturgeons.7  " 

"Sturgeons,"  laughed  Mrs.  O'Hara.  "Ye  don't 
know  the  name  of  yer  own  business  ;  sturgeons  is  fish." 

"  Fish  it  may  be  in  wan  sinse,"  said  Tim,  unwilling 
to  acknowledge  that  he  had  made  a  bull,  "and  yit,  in 
another  and  larger  sinse,  it  manes  a  man  of  sience, 
who  cuts  up  people  alive,  clanes  their  insideswith  acids 
and  ointments,  and  then  sews  them  up  as  well  as  ever." 

14  Saints  preserve  us,"  said  the  old  lady,  shuddering, 
M  ye  don't  do  that  here  ?" 

44  We  don't,  maybe,  and  then,  again,  maybe  we  do. 
Luk  here,"  and  Tim,  swinging  wide  open  the  closet 
door,  showed  to  the  astonished  woman  a  skeleton. 

She  gave  one  yell  and  sank  back  in  the  chair.  Tim 
closed  the  door  and  went  back  to  his  seat,  chuckling 
under  a  grim  demeanor.  "  That,"  said  he,  "  was  a  man 
like  you,  who  came  here  only  last  week,  and  sez  he  to  the 
doctor:  *  I  am  that  sick  I  can't  walk  '  ;  and  the  doctor 
says  he  to  him,  '  lave  yer  bones  here  till  next  week, 
and  come  around,  and  I'll  have  time  to  study  up  yer 
case  and  attind  to  the  matter,  I  think,  sezs  he,  that  yer 
sick' ;  and  that  man  did  that  same,  and  after  scrapin' 
the  bones  and  washin'  them  we  found  out  what  ailed 
him,  and  we  shall  get  him  sthraitened  up  in  good  shape 
against  he  comes  back." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  5  I 

"  Phat  ailded  him,"  querried  the  old  lady,  visibly  im- 
pressed by  the  sight. 

"Well,  he  had  miasma,  and  had  it  bad,  but  we've  got 
the  better  of  it  now,  and  the  remedies  that  we  have 
applied  is  that  powerful  that  it'll  niver  come  back." 

"  It's  mighty  funny  ye  are,  Mr.  Tim  Dodd,and  smart 
to  try  to  froighten  me,  but  don't  be  too  top-minded 
wid  yer  talk.  Ye  think  that  ye'll  be  in  partnership  wid 
the  dochter,  but  I  cud  tell  ye  that  about  him  that  wud 
make  yer  two  eyes  bug  out,  mind  that." 

"Ye  can  tell  me  nothin'  in  regaard  to  that  man.  I 
know  him  better  than  he  knows  himself,"  said  Tim. 
*  I  know  his  goins  out  and  his  comins  in,  what  he  aits 
and  what  clothes  he  wears,  and  how  he  spinds  his 
money.     Be  gad,  I  know  that,  too." 

"Oh,  ye  do,  do  ye;  very  well,  did  ye  know,  then, 
that  he  was  a  Jew.  Moind  that,  Mr.  Tim  Dodd,  moind 
that;1 

"  I  moind  that,  an'  I  know  it's  a  lie,"  said  Tim.  "  He 
is  an  Eyetalian." 

"  An  Eyetalian — a  Dago,"  she  returned  with  scorn, 
"  and  peddles  bananas,  does  he.     No,  he  is  a  Jew." 

11  It's  a  lie,  that's  what  it  is  ;  he  is  a  gintleman,  furrin' 
born,  and  a  man  who  would  scorn  such  a  dirty  insinu- 
ation, Mrs.  O'Hara.     I  demand  yer  proof." 

"Oh,  ho,  ye  know  so  much.  Thin  I  have  it  from  his 
own  mouth.  He  was  up  at  Lawrence's  the  other  noight, 
and  when  they  abused  the  Jews,  he  got  up,  and  said 
he,  '  I  am  a  Jew,'  said  he,  roight  before  them  all  ;  and  the 
gurrl,  who  is  my  own  niece,  heard  him  at  the  time,  for 
she  was  putting  some  coals  on  the  grate." 

"Ah,"  said  Tim,  with  an  air  of  indifference,  "he  is 
no  Jew.      Ye  niver  see  a  Jew  in  the  larned  professions. 


52  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

They  sell  clothin',  or  they  buy  old  iron,  or  they  peddle 
segars.  He  was  declaimin',  that's  what  he  was  doin'. 
He  will  get  up  here  and  talk  out  of  book  for  hours. 
I've  heard  him  say  it  more  times  than  there  are  hairs 
on  yer  head,  Mrs.  O'Hara,  'I'm  a  Jew,  give  me  me 
pound  of  flesh.'  D'ye  spose  he  wanted  to  ait  the  mate 
that  he  called  for  in  that  way  ?     No,  it's  in  the  play." 

44  It's  not  in  the  play  ;  for  when  he  said  it,  he  stood 
up  bold-like,  Nora  said,  and  it  kem  out  wid  thot  force 
and  foire  that  scared  the  gurrl,  she  bein'  but  a  young 
thing,  and  she  kem  over  and  tould  me,  and  me  old  man, 
sez  he,  4  that's  it,  he's  a  Christ-killer.7  " 

"Holy  Mother,"  said  Tim,  "phat  if  it  should  be 
thrue.  He's  a  villain  in  disguise,  and  I've  been  waitin7 
on  him  and  tratin7  him  like  wan  of  us.  There's  no 
thrustin7  to  appearances.  He  maybe  a  Toork, —  and 
why  do  ye  come  to  him,  Mrs.  O'Hara  ?  " 

uIt's  aginst  the  grain  that  I  do,  but  I  only  found  it 
out  last  noight,  and  he  do  be  so  kind  and  tinder. 
The  rist  of  the  dochters  they  come  in,  and  they  gev  a 
prescription  and  go  out,  and  say,  *  get  this  filled,'  whin, 
perhaps,  phat  wid  Pat's  sickness,  there  won't  be  the 
forty  cints  in  the  house  to  get  the  medsin  wid,  and 
we  that  poor  that  the  childer  hav'nt  got  shoes  to  go  to 
choorch.  It  lay  sore  aginst  my  haart  that  he  shud  be 
that  kind  of  a  man,  and  we  lovin'  him  so.  Here  he 
comes  now." 

Even  as  she  spoke  Dr.  Cavallo  came  in. 

Tim  slipped  his  hat  off  his  head  and  into  a  drawer, 
and  when  the  doctor  entered  he  was  the  same  servant 
that  he  had  been,  but  there  was  a  puzzled  look  on  his 
face,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  it  cost  him  an  effort  to 
pay  the  doctor  the  same  respect  that  was  his  wont. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  53 

His  idol  had  been  shattered,  and  he  was  unable  for  the 
moment  to  erect  another  in  its  place.  He  slowly  went 
down  stairs  shaking  his  head. 

The  doctor  drew  up  a  chair,  and  asked  the  old  lady 
after  her  maladies. 

She  began  querously  enough  to  give  her  troubles, 
but  as  she  went  on  she  resumed  the  old  tale  of  distress. 
"  Pat  was  sick  ;  the  oldest  boy  had  gotten  out  on  the 
street  and  was  a  member  of  a  tough  gang  of  hoodlums, 
and  she  was  fearful  that  any  night  she  would  hear  of 
his  arrest.  The  girls  had  gone,  to  work  in  a  factory, 
but  it  had  failed,  and  they  had  lost  two  weeks1  wages. 
She  was  sick  and  discouraged,  and  she  had  a  pain  in  the 
breast,  that  prevented  her  working  over  the  wash-tub, 
and  the  Chinese  laundries  took  all  of  her  best  custom- 
ers. Pat  had  had  a  job  as  laborer  on  the  streets,  but  a 
change  of  administration  had  dropped  him,  and  in 
working  for  a  private  contractor,  a  bank  of  earth  had 
caved  in  and  injured  him,  so  that  now  he  had  a  pain  in 
his  back  that  prevented  him  from  working,  and  winter 
was  coming  on,  and  starvation  stared  them  in  the  face.1' 

The  doctor  listened  with  sympathy,  although  he  had 
heard  the  tale  many  times  before.  He  gave  her  some 
medicine  for  Pat,  and  told  her  that  he  would  call  to 
see  him  in  the  morning ;  bid  her  to  be  cheerful  and  not 
be  cast  down,  that  times  would  mend,  work  was  cer- 
tain to  be  plenty  in  the  near  future.  Finally  putting 
something  into  her  palm,  he  said,  gently,  "  Now,  Mrs. 
O'Hara,  promise  me  that  you  won't  scrub  any  more 
this  week  ;  promise  me  this  before  you  go.  Take  one 
week  off,  and  try  and  get  rested." 

She  opened  her  hand,  and  saw  in  the  palm  a  five- 
dollar  bill.     She  burst  into  a  passionate  storm  of  weep- 


54  •  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

ing  :  "  Ah.  dochter,  dochter,  an'  I  said  ye  were  a  Jew." 
She  cried  again  in  going  down  the  steps,  and  said,  "  An' 
I  called  ye  a  Jew  ;  God  bless  ye." 

At  this  remark  a  bitter  smile  flitted  across  the  Doc- 
tor's face.  He  felt  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  his 
contest. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Dr.  Cavallo  had  had  a  hard  day's  work  and  he  entered 
his  office  just  at  dusk  with  a  sense  of  utter  weariness. 
He  had  been  down  into  the  lower  part  of  the  city  and 
the  scenes  of  want  and  destitution  that  he  had  wit- 
nessed angered  and  disgusted  him.  He  felt  that  every 
member  of  the  city  Board  of  Health  was  criminally 
neglecting  his  duties,  and  he  determined  that  he  would 
take  the  whole  matter  in  hand  at  an  early  day  and  see  if 
he  could  not  do  something  towards  alleviating  the 
misery  of  a  nest  of  wretched  souls  that  inhabited  a 
long  conglomeration  of  buildings  known  as  "Abbott's 
Row."  It  was  with  this  thought  in  his  mind  that  he 
saw  on  his  table  a  telegram,  and  picking  it  up  and 
opening  it  he  read  the  following : 

On  train,  Oct.  12th,  189 — . 
Maurice  Cavallo. 

Look  for  me  on  train  6:30. 

Your  Uncle. 

This  recalled  to  his  mind  the  fact  that  he  had,  a  week 
before,  received  a  letter  from  his  maternal  uncle,  Abra- 
ham Mendez,  telling  him  that  he  would  be  in  New  York 
on  business  and  that  he  might  come  west  and  call  on 
him.  So  the  telegram,  while  it  was  a  surprise,  was  not 
wholly  unexpected.     This  uncle  he  had  not  seen  since 


56  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

he  was  a  lad  in  London.  Mendez  was  a  kindly  soul, 
his  mother's  brother.  He  came  over  weekly  from  Hol- 
land following  his  calling,  which  was  that  of  a  diamond 
broker,  and  in  these  weekly  pilgrimages  he  seldom  for- 
got his  young  nephew.  Cavallo  also  smiled  to  himself 
as  he  now  recalled  how  exact  his  uncle  used  to  be  in 
the  performance  of  his  religious  duties  and  how  he  had 
once  rebuked  his  nephew  with  some  asperity  for  omit- 
ting some  part  of  his  morning  prayer. 

He  looked  at  his  watch.  He  had  fifteen  minutes  in 
which  to  make  the  train.  To  jump  into  his  overcoat, 
get  into  his  carriage  and  drive  towards  the  depot  was 
the  work  of  a  second,  and  he  had  no  trouble  in  getting 
there  before  the  train  came  in. 

There  was  the  usual  bustle  as  the  train  made  its  ap- 
pearance, and  as  it  gave  the  preliminary  toots  and  then 
drew  into  the  depot  he  stationed  himself  where  he 
could  see  the  passengers  get  off.  He  watched  the 
effusive  greetings  that  ensued  between  a  family  party, 
some  of  whose  members  had  returned  from  a  visit  and 
the  rest  that  had  come  down  to  the  depot  to  greet 
them  with  much  noise  and  demonstration  of  wordy 
welcome.  He  saw  the  whole  coach  empty  itself,  and 
he  was  about  turning  away  when  from  the  rear  end  he 
saw  a  man  whose  looks  showed  that  he  was  past  sixty 
but  his  step  still  had  the  elasticity  of  middle  life.  He 
was  compact  and  heavy  set.  His  dress  indicated  that 
his  clothes  were  foreign  made.  He  was  loaded  down 
with  portmanteaus,  but  Cavallo  recognized  him  in  an 
instant.  While  years  had  passed  since  he  saw  him,  his 
features  had  not  changed,  and  Cavallo  went  up  and 
greeted  him.  The  old  man  grasped  him  by  the  hand 
and  then  imprinted  a  kiss  on  both  his  cheeks,  exclaim- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  57 

ing  in  Hebrew,  in  a  broad,  resonant  voice,  "Shallom 
alaichem."  (This  is,  M  Peace  be  unto  you,"  the  common 
salutation.) 

After  this  he  held  the  doctor  out  under  the  gas  light 
and  took  a  long  look  at  him,  turning  around  and  gazing 
at  him  as  if  he  were  a  gem.  Then  he  kissed  him  once 
more  and  said,  "Well,  it's  the  same  face.  You  have 
grown  taller,  but  I  would  have  recognized  you  any 
where.  You  look  like  your  poor  mother,  "  Olehu 
hashalom  ("  May  peace  be  to  her."  No  pious  Jew  ever 
speaks  of  a  departed  female  relative  without  saying 
-Olehu  hashalom.") 

Cavallo  finally  broke  away  long  enough  to  gather  his 
bundles  together,  put  the  old  man  into  his  vehicle,  and 
soon  landed  him  at  the  office  door.  He  brought  him 
in,  helped  him  to  remove  his  overcoat,  and  sat  him 
in  a  chair.  Then  followed  inquiries  about  his  trip  and 
his  health  and  the  doctor  suggested  that  they  go  to 
supper.  The  old  gentleman,  not  heeding  the  invita- 
tion, looked  about,  keenly  scrutinizing  everything. 
The  orifice,  while  not  gorgeous,  was  comfortable,  show- 
ing great  taste.  There  were  two  or  three  rare  prints 
on  the  wall,  the  rugs  had  been  carefully  dusted  by  Tim, 
and  every  thing  was  in  place.  The  instruments  which 
Tim  always  took  great  delight  in  exhibiting,  were  dis- 
played so  that  they  could  be  easily  seen.  A  cheerful 
fire  was  burning  in  the  grate,  and  Cavallo  took  a  secret 
pride  in  seeing  that  his  uncle's  eyes  took  in  everything 
and  that  he  was  making  a  mental  note  of  his  surround- 
ings. The  old  gentleman  completed  his  inventory  of 
the  things  in  the  room  and  then  rising  from  his  chair 
he  went  to  the  book  case,  evidently  loooking  for  some 
familiar  volume,  but  he  seemed  to  miss  something,  for 
he^came  back  and  stood  musing  by  the  fire. 


58  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Cavallo  said  to  him  again,  that  as  he  was  hungry 
after  his  long  ride,  they  better  get  supper,  and  they 
went  out  together.  The  old  gentleman,  on  going  out, 
stopped  as  they  passed  the  door,  turned  back  and 
shook  his  head  sadly,  but  said  nothing  and  followed 
Cavallo  down  stairs  and  on  the  sidewalk.  Cavallo 
walked  along  with  a  feeling  of  pleasure.  Here  was  his 
only  relative  on  this  side  of  the  water.  The  kindly 
manner  of  the  old  man  sent  a  glow  through  his  soul. 
It  brought  back  to  him  again  the  days  of  his  childhood 
and  the  hours  that  he  had  passed  as  a  youth  when  some 
of  his  pleasantest  recollections  were,  when  under  his 
father's  roof,  this  good  old  man  had  been  so  great  a 
delight  and  when  his  visits  had  been  so  warmly  wel- 
comed. He  could  hardly  express  his  joy  as  they 
walked  along  and  he  recalled  to  his  uncle's  mind  the 
days  when  he  was  carried  on  the  old  man's  shoulder 
and  when  he  used  to  play  his  boyish  pranks  about 
him.  In  memory  of  those  days  he  burst  into  a  musical 
laugh,  at  which  his  uncle  inquired,  "  Why  do  you  laugh, 
Maurice?"  Cavallo  said,  u Uncle,  I  was  just  thinking, 
do  you  remember  when  you  came  on  '  Chanukah'  and 
you  brought  me  a  'tendril,'  and  then  I  told  you  that 
I  would  rather  have  a  Christmas  tree.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  horrified  expression  of  your  face  and  how 
poor  mother  shrieked.  Uncle,  I  have  laughed  at  that 
more  than  once." 

"Yes,  Maurice,  you  were  always  noted  for  your  good 
memory,"  replied  his  uncle,  with  the  air  of  a  man  ab- 
sorbed in  thought. 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  fashionable  res- 
taurant of  the  city,  and  entering,  Maurice  sat  his  uncle 
down  at  a  table,  and  placed  a  bill  of  fare  in  his  hand. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  59 

The  obsequious  waiter  came  up,  and  said  to  the  old 
gentleman,  "Let  me  take  your  hat." 

The  other  shook  his  head,  replying,  "  Oh,  I  will  keep 
mine  on." 

The  waiter  stared,  and  then  nodded,  and  remarked 
under  his  breath  to  the  doctor,  u Quaker?'1  but  the 
other  made  no  reply. 

Turning  to  his  uncle,  he  facetiously  remarked,  "  I 
had  almost  forgotten,  I  see  that  you  have  not  changed 
much  since  the  last  time  you  boxed  my  ears  for  having 
skipped  a  page  of  the  'Benschen'  (grace  after  meal), 
but  never  mind,  see  what  will  you  have  ?  " 

It  seemed  that  all  Cavallo's  exuberance  was  entirely 
lost  on  the  old  man.  He  was  absorbed  in  brown  study, 
apparently  directed  to  the  bill  of  fare,  for  he  studied  it 
as  if  it  were  a  diamond,  and  he  was  trying  to  detect 
a  flaw  in  it.  Finally,  he  laid  it  down,  and  said,  sternly, 
"  Maurice,  are  you  mocking  me  ?  " 

"Why,"  replied  Maurice,  laughingly,  "mocking  you, 
uncle."  Then  checking  himself,  as  a  new  light  sud- 
denly dawned  upon  him,  he  said,  apologetically,  "Well, 
this  is  the  very  best  restaurant  in  town,  I  surely  would 
not  take  you  to  any  other  place,  uncle,  and  believe  me, 
I  had  forgotten  all  about  '  kosher.'  You  see  that  I 
have  been  away  from  home  for  so  many  years  that  I 
have  almost  outgrown  all  the  old  customs." 

Here  he  was  interrupted  by  his  uncle,  who  said  :  "  I 
knew  that,  in  America,  Judaism  was  lax  and  destructive, 
but,  on  my  life,  never  could  I  believe  that  my  own 
sister's  son  had  so  far  forsaken  his  father's  religion." 

"  Forsaken  his  father's  religion,  uncle  ?  " 

"Aye,  aye,  what  else,  what  else  do  you  call  this  I  At 
your  office    I    noticed    in    coming  in,  that   the  sacred 


60  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

1  Mezzuzah  '  was  not  on  your  door  post."  (The  "  Mez- 
zuzah"  is  a  piece  of  parchment  with  a  glass  eye  in 
the  center,  and  the  word    "Shaddai"  on  it.) 

"  AmoHg  your  books  I  in  vain  looked  for  the  l  Torah' 
or  any  other  holy  book."  (The  "  Torah  "  is  the 
Pentateuch.) 

"  Now,  in  addition  to  this,  you  take  your  old  uncle, 
who  has  come  over  the  sea  a  long  distance  to  see  the 
child  of  his  only  sister,  you  take  him  to  a  Trafe  res- 
taurant." (That  is,  ritually,  forbidden.  Trafe  is  the 
opposite  of  4I  kosher'7;  the  latter  represents  things 
that  the  Jews  may  eat,  and  the  other  that  they  may 
not.) 

"  I  am  sixty  years  of  age,"  added  the  old  man,  "  trav- 
eled have  I  extensively,  much  I  have  seen,  but  praised 
be  God,  never  was  I  culpable  and  guilty  of  eating  any- 
thing that  was  '  trafe.'  " 

Cavallo  attempted  to  speak,  but  the  old  man  went  on. 

"Think  of  how  your  poor  mother's  bones  would 
tremble  in  her  grave  if  she  could  realize  what  a  depth 
of  sin  her  son  has  descended  to.  You,  Maurice,  the 
descendant  of  Rabbi  Yechiel  Ben  Mannaseh — lZich- 
rono  livrocho '  (may  his  memory  be  blessed)  —  the 
Tzaadik  who  defended  Israel's  religion  ;  whose  soul  was 
so  holy  that,  like  Daniel  of  old,  the  flames  had  no 
power  over  him,  and  he  went  dancing  to  his  death 
mocking  his  tormentors,  and  whose  mind  left  '  Yeru- 
shah  '  (a  legacy)  of  large  volumes  of  'Meforshim' 
(commentaries) — that  you  could  have  fallen  from  that 
holy  influence." 

The  doctor,  dreading  a  scene  in  that  public  place, 
suggested  that  he  could  eat  something,  and  that  they 
would  discuss  these  points  in  his  office.     The  old  man 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  6l 

ruefully  told  the  waiter  to  bring  him  some  eggs,  tea, 
and  toast  without  butter. 

Cavallo,  respecting  the  prejudices  of  his  uncle,  gave 
a  similar  order,  and  they  ate  their  meal  in  silence. 

After  this  had  been  done,  Cavallo  inquired  after  his 
home  folks,  his  cousins  and  the  family  gossip,  so  dear 
to  the  heart  of  the  Jew,  among  whom  the  family  ties 
are  the  strongest  of  any  people  on  earth.  Then  they 
returned  to  the  office.  Here  the  doctor  pulled  out  his 
box  of  cigars,  and  asked  his  uncle  to  take  a  smoke. 
The  old  man  joined  him,  and  then  Cavallo  said  : 

"Uncle,  I  am  sorry  that  this  thing  happened  to  hurt 
your  feelings.  It  was  unintentional ;  knowing  that 
everything  else  has  changed  in  the  last  twenty  years,  I 
had  thought  that  these  forms  had  suffered  change,  too, 
as  they  have  in  the  United  States." 

"  Change,"  echoed  the  old  gentleman,  "  do  you  mean 
that  the  laws  of  God  are  liable  to  change  ?  When  God 
laid  them  down  in  his  own  lTorah'  (the  law,  or  scrip- 
ture.) And  is  it  not  written  that  this  'Torah'  will 
never  be  changed  ?  " 

"  So,"  replied  Cavallo,  u  you  really  mean  to  say,  uncle, 
that  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  remain  a  Jew,  for  one  to 
stick  to  all  of  the  old  customs  and  ceremonies  and 
forms  that  were  given  to  a  people  whose  civilization 
was  so  unlike  ours." 

"  Necessary  !  "  repeated  the  old  gentleman,  "  it  is 
necessary.     This  is  Judaism,  it  is  obligatory." 

"  Now,  uncle,  I  don't  want  to  hurt  your  feelings,  but 
I  can  take  you  to  some  of  your  co-religionists  in  this 
city  whose  whole  life  is  wrapped  up  in  this  ceremonial 
law.  They  live  l  kosher,'  indeed,  but  they  are  any- 
thing but  a  credit  to  their  religion  or  their  race.     On 


62  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  other  hand,  I  can  show  you  Jews  who  do  not  care 
for  the  small  details,  but  who  lead  upright  lives  filled 
with  charity  and  humanity.  With  the  one  Judaism  is 
simply  dead  legalism,  with  the  other,  it  is  a  high  and 
lofty  guide,  dealing  with  the  love  of  humanity." 

"You,"  said  the  old  man,  slowly,  "are  losing  your 
Judaism." 

"  And  you,"  returned  the  other,  "  are  losing  your 
hold  upon  the  rising  generation.  They  will  not  sub- 
mit to  these  little  ceremonies.  Now,  you  will,  if  you 
cling  to  them,  have  no  following.  You  must  come  up 
to  the  recognition  of  this  fact,  that  Judaism  must  keep 
step  with  the  age.     If  it  doesn't  it  will  be  lost." 

The  old  man  seemed  absorbed  in  thought.  He 
smoked  slowly,  and  finally  he  asked  : 

"Is  there  no  Jewish  congregation  in  the  city?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  there  is  a  Jewish  congregation,  but  I  must 
confess  that  I  have  no  time  to  spare  to  idle  away  in 
their  society.  I  know  some  of  the  people  of  our  faith, 
some  of  them  are  capital  fellows,  one  family  in  particu- 
lar here,  I  am  on  very  good  terms  with,  but  I  have 
never  told  them  and  they  do  not  suspect  that  I  am  a 
Jew." 

''Don't  suspect  that  you  are  a  Jew?"  retorted  the  old 
man.  "Are  you  then  ashamed  of  it?  Look  at  your 
fathers  in  Spain?  When  they  were  forced  to  wear  a 
yellow  badge  ;  when  to  be  a  Jew  was  a  disgrace  and 
they  were  in  danger  of  the  stake.  Did  they  swerve? 
When  whole  committees  were  expelled  from  that  land 
the  choice  was  offered  them  to  retain  their  faith  and 
be  driven  out,  or  give  it  up  and  keep  their  high  posi- 
tions. Did  they  bend  the  knee?  And  are  you  ashamed 
of  this  glorious  ancestry?" 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  63 

"Oh,  ashamed,"  answered  Cavallo.  M  I  have  never  in- 
timated that  I  was,  uncle.  When  it  comes  to  that  I  am 
as  proud  of  it  as  you  or  any  one,  but  I  am  not  called 
upon  to  proclaim  my  religion  from  the  house  tops.  I 
am  not  given  to  boasting  of  my  own  deeds,  but  I  am 
trying  to  live  up  to  the  teachings  of  the  prophets.  To 
me,  Judaism  is  not  confined  to  the  utensils  of  the 
kitchen.  It  is  not  stored  away  in  certain  books,  nor  is 
it  wrapped  up  in  obsolete  customs." 

a  What  do  you  mean  by  your  Judaism,  "almost  sneered 
his  uncle. 

M  My  Judaism,"  quietly  replied  Cavallo,  "is  a  religion 
of  broad  justice,  of  far  reaching  humanity,  of  uncom- 
promising virtue,  of  abounding  love  to  all  who  are  in 
need  of  sympathy  and  help  as  set  forth  by  our  teachers, 
Moses,  Isaiah,  Amos  and  the  other  great  lights." 

"Tut,  tut,"  retorted  his  uncle,  curtly.  "What  is  the 
difference  between  a  Christian  and  a  Jew,  then?' 

"Difference  !  none  that  I  know  of,"  said  Cavallo. 

"None,"  shrieked  his  uncle,  "none,  you  say.  Have 
I  lived  these  years  to  have  my  religious  feelings  out- 
raged by  mine  own  nephew?  None!  Have  we  Jews 
been  persecuted,  slaughtered,  spit  upon,  and  mal- 
treated these  hundreds  of  years  for  nothing?" 

"You  mistake,  uncle,"  answered  Cavallo,  with  calm 
dignity,  "I  meant  to  say  that  the  Christian  who  prac- 
tices broad  charity  and  benevolence  and  lives  up  to  the 
principles  of  justice  and  mercy  is  in  my  humble  opinion 
a  better  Jew  than  the  Jew  who  lives  up  to  the  dietary 
law,  believes  in  the  old  ceremonies,  hugs  the  old  ritual, 
clings  to  the  old  dead  husks  of  the  superstitious  ages, 
but  is  indifferent  to  the  principles  of  humanity.  It  is 
these  people  that  have  rendered  the   name  of  Jew  ob- 


64  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

noxious  to  society.  They  have  in  the  past  thrown  the 
Jew  into  a  Ghetto  and  to-day  he  is  looked  upon  by 
many  with  prejudice  and  even  with  hate. 

"  No  difference,  hey  !  No  difference  between  a  Jew 
and  a  Christian?1'  murmured  Mr.  Mendez,  in  whose 
mind  these  words  seemed  to  have  burned  their  way 
and  to  whom  Cavallo's  outbursts  were  entirely  lost. 

He  relapsed  into  a  stage  of  profound  astonishment, 
only  stopping  occasionally  to  stare  at  his  nephew,  and 
shake  his  head.  Finally  he  said,  "  How  is  the  teach- 
ing of  our  holy  religion?  Doesn't  it  say  we  are  a  holy 
people,  the  chosen  people,  and  only  us  did  God  select 
from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth?" 

"Science  does  not  mention  any  selection,  except 
'  natural  selection,'"  said  Cavallo.  "The  blood  of  the 
Jew  doesn't  show  under  the  microscope  to  be  any 
different  from  the  blood  of  the  Gentile,  nor  is  there 
any  difference  in  his  anatomy.  The  psychologist  has 
not  discovered  that  there  is  any  difference  in  the  mind 
of  the  Jew  from  that  of  any  other  race  except  it  be 
that  he  is  a  little  quicker  to  think." 

"What  did  our  prophets  then  mean,"  retorted  his 
uncle,  "by  calring  us  a  chosen  people.  Are  you  deny- 
ing this?'7 

•'The  Jews  were  a  chosen  people,  just  as  other  races 
like  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  were 
chosen  to  perform  certain  functions.  So  far  as  the 
Jew  is  concerned  he  took  upon  himself  in  the  dark 
ages  of  the  world  to  teach  lessons  of  religion.  Hence 
he  has  had  greater  responsibilities  thrust  upon  him, 
which,  if  he  is  true  to  his  calling,  he  must  exemplify  to 
the  world." 

Mr.    Mendez   could  only  shake  his  head,  and  after 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  65 

pulling  at  his  cigar,  he  found  that  it  had  gone  out.  He 
lighted  another,  and  after  getting  it  fairly  started,  he 
uttered,  in  a  voice  of  deep  dejection:  "No  difference  ; 
no  difference  between  a  Jew  and  a  Christian,  and  he 
mine  own  nephew !  " 

"Uncle,  you  seem  to  take  my  remarks  very  much  at 
heart,"  added  Cavallo.  "They  were  innocently  made, 
but  let  us  be  a  little  more  serious  about  it.  Wherein 
have  I  sinned  ?  It  would  be  useless  for  me  to  enter 
into  an  argument  against  your  idea  of  special  selection 
from  any  other  but  a  Jewish  view.  Of  course,  I  could 
•cite  such  characters  in  support  of  my  ideas  as  Geiger, 
Stein,  Holdheim,  Einhorn  and  many  others,  but  you 
would  answer,  'These  were  reformed  rabbis,  destructive 
teachers,'  notwithstanding  that  these  men  have  ad- 
vanced the  standard  of  Jewish  culture,  have,  by  dint  of 
their  intellects,  demanded  a  recognition  of  Jewish 
ideals  from  a  hostile  world.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
you  would  regard  them  as  renegades,  would  not  accord 
them  any  Jewish  authority.  Very  well.  You  ac- 
knowledge the  binding  force  of  the  Talmud,  do  you 
not?" 

"Well,  go  on,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  No ;  answer  me,  in  all  fairness,  answer  me.  Do 
you  not  acknowledge  the  Talmud  as  the  highest 
authority  ?  " 

"Well,"  peevishly  replied  the  other,  "  of  course  I  do, 
next  to  the  '  Torah.'  " 

"Well,  then,"  continued  Cavallo,  u  does  not  the  Tal- 
mud maintain  that  everyone  who  repudiates  and  denies 
idolatry  is  a  Jew?  And  in  another  place  the  sages 
taught  that  the  righteous  of  the  Gentiles  will  enjoy 
future  life.     Were  they  apostates  because  their  religion 

3 


66  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

was  not  narrow  ?  Were  they  renegades  because  they 
taught  that  even  the  state  in  the  future  life  depended, 
not  on  faith,  not  on  birth,  not  on  creed,  but  on  conduct  ? 
You  readily  understand,  uncle,  that  the  advanced  Jew 
of  to-day  regards  the  Talmud  as  literature,  merely  recog- 
nizing it  as  a  sort  of  anthropological  development  of  Jew- 
ish culture  ;  yet,  I  must  say,  that  these  very  Talmudic 
sages  who  maintain  ideas  so  far  in  advance  of  their 
age,  would  blush  to  see  the  deification  made  by  some 
of  our  co-religionists  of  their  plain  interpretations. 

"  I  could  cite,  too,  many  passages  in  Sacred  Writ, 
which  you  will  admit  impose  far  superior  and  more 
binding  authority  on  the  Jew  than  any  works  written 
since,  in  support  of  my  argument,  that  before  God  there 
is  no  difference  between  man  and  man." 

11  So  !  you  can,  can  you  !  Cite  passages  from  the  Bible, 
where  the  Jew  is  not  superior  to  the  Christian  ?" 

11  Of  course,  there  are  no  such  passages  in  the  Bible 
about  Christians,  but  what  I  mean  to  convey,  uncle,  is 
that  the  Bible,  while  laying  special  duties  on  Israel, 
emphasizes  throughout,  the  teachings  of  conduct  and 
life  in  preference  to  creed,  dogma  and  form.  It  makes 
no  distinction  in  the  performance  of  duty  between  man 
and  man.  But  before  I  go  any  farther,  uncle,  a  thought 
just  strikes  me  as  an  illustration  in  point.  Nearly  two 
thousand  years  ago,  the  Talmud  tells  us,  a  dispute 
arose  among  the  learned  rabbis  as  to  which  was  the 
most  important  verse  in  the  Bible.  One  held  that  it 
was  '  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  another  cited 
another  verse.  Finally,  a  sage  said  that  neither  of 
these  filled  the  idea,  but  that  the  holiest  verse  was  the 
first  verse  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis,  which  says  : 
'This  is  the  book  of  the  generations  of  Adam.     In  the 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  67 

day  that  God  created  man,1  mark  ye,  he  created  man  — 
not  Jew,  not  Gentile,  not  black,  not  white,  but  man  — 
4  in  the  likeness  of  God  made  he  him.1  Conclusively 
showing  by  this  that  before  God  all  men  are  equal,  and 
that  all  men  have  the  same  origin.11 

"So,"  said  the  old  man,  "why  do  you  cite  the 
Talmud  ?     You  don^  believe  in  it.11 

"  I  do  believe  in  it ;  that  is,  I  believe  in  that  part 
where  the  rabbis  have  shown  a  broad  spirit  of  tolerance 
and  fraternal  love,"  said  Cavallo. 

The  old  man  was  perplexed.  He  seemed  at  his  wit's 
end,  and  again  he  murmured,  "No  difference  between 
a  Christian  and  a  Jew  ! " 

This  exclamation  was  lost  on  Cavallo,  who  went  on: 

"  Uncle,  do  you  believe  that  the  Psalmist  was  a  Jew  ?  " 

The  old  man's  eyes  shone,  and  he  shouted,  "What 
else  was  he  ?  —  a  Christian  ?" 

The  cut  passed  unheeded  by  Cavallo,  who  continued. 

"  Since  this  Psalmist  was  a  Jew,  we  may  safely  ask 
him  for  a  definition  of  Judaism.  I  remember,  uncle, 
how  deep  these  words,  that  I  am  about  to  cite  to  you, 
sank  into  my  heart  when  a  lad,  while  the  minister 
chanted  so  impressively  in  the  old  Portugese  syna- 
gogue on  the  eve  of  our  New  Year,  'Who  shall  ascend 
into  the  hill  of  the  Lord  and  who  shall  stand  in  his 
holy  place,'  which  put  into  our  every  day  talk  would 
be  another  way  for  putting  the  question,  'What  shall 
we  do  to  be  saved?1  " 

"  Mark  his  answer.  He  says  nothing  about  l  Kosher ' 
or  '  Trafe,'  '  Mezzuzah,'  or  anything  about  our  forms 
and  rites  but  '  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart.1  Now,  uncle,  do  you  want  anything  broader? 
Do  you  find  any  difference  between  the  born  Israelite 
and  the  Gentile  in  this?'1 


68  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

The  old  man  groaned  and  muttered,  "  No  difference, 
eh,  no  difference  !  " 

"  I  could  go  on,  but  it  is  useless,"  pursued  his  nephew. 
"  Let  me  cite  you  one  or  two  more  prophets.  The 
life  and  customs  of  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Amos  are 
not  unknown  to  you.  They  scrupulously,  it  seems,  ob- 
served all  of  the  regulations  and  the  rites  of  the  Temple, 
but  they  lacked  two  littje  things  :  humanity  and  justice. 
How  this  prophet  lashed  them  for  their  misdeeds  ! 
Listen  to  what  this  great  Jew  says  in  the  name  of 
Jehovah  : 

"  '  I  hate  and  despise  your  feast  days  and  I  will  not 
delight  in  your  solemn  assemblies ;  take  thou  away 
from  me  the  noise  of  thy  songs,  for  I  will  not  hear  the 
melody  of  thy  viols,  but  let  justice  run  down  as  water 
and  rightousness  as  a  mighty  stream.'  How  is  this, 
uncle,  as  a  definition  of  Judaism?" 

The  old  man  moved  uneasily  in  his  seat  and  feebly 
said,  "  No  difference  !  "  and  shook  his  head  mournfully. 

Cavallo  went  on,  •■  Micah,  another  of  our  great  teach- 
ers, after  denying  that  God  wants  sacrifices  and  bribery, 
says  4  He  hath  showed  thee,  oh,  man,  what  is  good  and 
what  the  Lord  doth  require  of  thee  (nothing  more) 
but  to  do  justice  and  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God.'  Now,  you  see,  he  does  not  mention 
the  word  Jew  even,  or  Israelite.  I  tell  you  this  is  the 
greatest  gospel  of  human  brotherhood  ever  advanced 
by  anyone,  and  if  this  does  not  make  one  a  Jew,  I 
would  like  to  have  you  tell  me  what  will.  This  is  the 
Judaism  in  which  I  believe." 

The  old  man  shook  his  head  again,  but  he  secretly 
admired  the  brilliant  intelligence  of  his  nephew,  and 
although  he  was  not  wholly  convinced,  the  new  light 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  69 

that  had  been  thrown  upon  the  subject  set  him  think- 
ing and  he  only  said  : 

"What  a  pity,  dear  Maurice,  that  you  don't  make 
better  use  of  your  knowledge  of  our  sacred  literature.'" 

Maurice  replied,  "  I  do  not  understand  you.  Better 
use?" 

"Aye,"  rejoined  the  old  man.  "Why  do  you  separ- 
ate yourself  from  your  people?" 

"My  people,"  echoed  Cavallo.  "My  people!  In- 
deed, uncle,  if  there  be  anything  that  I  am  proud  of,  it 
is  that  I  am  not  separated  from  my  people.  My 
belief  is,  every  man  who  practices  humanity,  who  be- 
lieves in  justice,  who  loves  his  fellow  man,  who  has 
hope  in  the  future,  and  works  for  the  right  in  the 
present  —  such  men  are  my  brethren  whatever  their 
creed,  their  color,  or  their  race.  The  sooner  our  co- 
religionists recognize  this  divine  principle,  the  sooner 
will  race  prejudice  and  religious  intolerance  disappear." 

The  old  man  seemed  lost  in  thought.  His  head  fell 
on  his  breast. 

Cavallo,  looking  at  his  watch,  added,  "Why,  dear  me, 
I  had  no  idea  that  it  was  so  late.  It  is  thoughtless  of 
me  to  keep  you  up  after  your  long  journey.  When 
you  are  ready  we  will  retire." 

The  old  man  arose  slowly  and  said,  "Yes,  you  are 
right.     A  night's  rest  will  do  me  good." 

Putting  on  his  hat  and  overcoat  they  started  for  the 
hotel.  When  they  went  up  to  his  room,  as  they  parted, 
the  old  man  said,  "  Maurice,  I  am  glad,  indeed  I  am, 
that  I  came.  I  am  glad  that  we  had  this  talk  to-night, 
and  be  it  far  from  me  to  sit  in  judgment  on  you,  but 
there  is  one  thing  I  would  like  to  have  you  promise  me. 
Now,  will  you?" 


70  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

Cavallo,  smiling,  said,  "That  depends,  uncle,  if  you 
are  not  too  hard  on  me.'7 

"Promise  me,"  entreated  the  old  man,  "that  you  will 
connect  yourself  with  the  congregation,  and  take  a 
little  deeper  interest  in  your  brethren,  and  in  our  faith. 
Now  will  you?" 

Cavallo  hesitated.  "Uncle,  I  will  think  of  it,  you 
are  not  going  to  leave  right  away  ?  I  will  see  you  in  the 
morning." 

"Yes,"  said  the  old  man,  "I  must  take  the  first  train 
back.  I  only  came  here  to  have  a  look  at  you,  that's 
all.     Promise  me  now!" 

The  old  man's  voice  trembled,  and  to  pacify  him, 
and  to  atone  for  the  pain  that  he  had  unintentionally 
caused  him,  Cavallo  replied  : 

"Well,  uncle,  sleep  well.  If  this  will  be  a  source  of 
pleasure  to  you,  I  will  do  so,  to  please  you." 

Abraham  Mendez,  overcome  with  emotion,  em- 
braced his  nephew,  and  placing  his  hand  on  his  head 
with  reverent  benediction,  blessed  him,  and  they  bade 
each  other  good  night. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


Timothy  Dodd  had  not  recovered  his  spirits.  He 
went  about  his  work  mechanically.  He  polished  up 
the  furniture  in  the  office,  but  he  no  longer  did  this 
with  his  old-time  enthusiasm.  The  sight  of  the  surgi- 
cal instruments,  as  they  lay  in  their  polished  cases, 
afforded  him  no  delight.  When  he  looked  at  the  little 
sign  that  hung  out  in  front,  it  did  not  fill  his  soul  with 
swelling  ambition,  and  he  no  longer  saw  in  his  mind's 
eye  the  words,  "  Cavallo  &  Dodd,  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons," in  gold  letters,  as  he  had  once  fondly  imagined 
would  one  day  be  the  case.  He  even  wore  the  Doctor's 
second-hand  clothes  with  reluctance,  and  a  particular 
vest  that  he  had  long  fancied,  he  did  not  lay  away  as  he 
intended,  thinking  that  he  would  wear  it  himself  when 
the  Doctor  had  forgotten  it.  Instead  of  these  things, 
he  only  shook  his  head  sagaciously  and  mournfully, 
and  ejaculated,  "  An'  him  a  Jew."  Only  one  thing  af- 
forded him  solace,  he  pilfered  more  of  the  Doctor's 
cigars  out  of  the  box  than  he  did  before,  and  smoked 
them  without  stint.  Even  when  the  Doctor  began  to 
suspect  something,  and  inquired  where  his  cigars  had 
gone,  Tim  responded,  "The  rats  must  hev  tuk  thim,1' 
and  he  did  not  even  afflict  his  soul  for  the  sin  of  lying. 
Now  he  paused,  and  eyeing  a  picture  of  the  Doctor  on 
the  wall,  shook  his  fist  at  it,  wrathfully,  and  said,  "An1 


J2  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

ye  are  a  Jew,"  as  if  the  photograph  was  responsible  for 
the  whole  race  question. 

He  was  aroused  from  this  reverie  by  a  noise  on  the 
stairs,  and  going  to  the  door,  he  admitted  Bob  Law- 
rence and  a  companion  of  about  the  same  age,  a  broad- 
shouldered  man,  with  a  massive  head  and  an  air  of 
assurance.  They  came  in,  and  Bob,  showing  the  other 
to  a  seat,  asked,  "Tim,  where's  the  Doctor  ?" 

"  At  prisint,  sor,  he's  out,"  replied  Tim. 

"  I  know  that,"  said  Bob,  "  any  one  can  see  that.  I 
asked  you  where  he  was  ?  " 

"Whin  he's  not  in,  he's  out,"  explained  Tim,  "an' 
whin  he's  not  out,  he's  in." 

"Do  you  know  where  he  is?"  inquired  Bob,  im- 
patiently. 

"He's  halin'  the  sick,  puttin'  eyes  into  the  blind,  fas- 
tenin'  legs  onto  the  lame,  and  pullin7  the  teeth  out  of 
the  poor.  Small  use  hev  they  for  teeth,  wid  mate  and 
things  so  high." 

"  The  Doctor  is  nicely  fixed  here,"  quoth  Bob's  com- 
panion.    "  Fine  case  of  instruments  there." 

This  warmed  Tim's  heart  at  once.  uLuk  at  thim," 
said  he,  "ain't  they  daisies.  There's  saws  there  that 
wud  cut  a  man's  leg  off  so  slick  that  it  wud  be  a  comfort 
to  him." 

Both  of  his  listeners  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter. 
Bob  added,  u  I  suppose,  then,  to  make  a  man  com- 
pletely comfortable,  you^would  have  to  saw  off  both  of 
his  legs  ?" 

UI  tell  ye,  Misther  Lawrence,"  explained  Tim, 
gravely,  "thim  instrumints  is  a  very  satisfyin'  sight. 
Whin  a  man  comes  in  here  groanin'  wid  pain,  and  the 
dochter  ain't  in,  I  say  to  him,  go  to  the  case  there, 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  73 

sez  I,  and  select  the  saw  or  the  huk  that  you  wud 
fancy  you  wud  have  thrust  into  yez,  sez  I,  and  whin 
the  dochter  comes  in,  we'll  stretch  ye  out  on  the 
operatin'  table  in  the  back  room,  an'  I  give  ye  my  wurd 
that  ye'll  have  no  raison  to  quistion  the  fidility  of  the 
wurrk  done  on  yez." 

"  This  ought  to  make  them  more  than  satisfied,"  said 
Bob's  companion,  gravely.  "  It  ought  to  make  them 
uproariously  happy.'* 

"They  ginerally  go  away  wid  a  great  calm  in  their 
moind." 

"The  saycrit  of  medsin,"  continued  Tim,  earnestly, 
"is  to  so  afflict  the  patient  that  he  does'nt  suspict  what 
ye  are  about  to  do  to  him,  and  thin  ye  jab  him  and  git 
the  insthrumint  into  him,  an'  begin  twistin'  it  around 
before  he  comprehinds  the  plan  that  ye  are  purshuin'." 
"You  have  got  the  thing  down  fine,  Tim,"  said  Bob, 
encouragingly. 

"Ye  see,"  added  Tim,  oracularly,  "there  is  two 
branches  in  the  practice  of  medsin  — thecertin  and  the 
oncertin.  Whin  ye  saw  a  man's  leg  off,  ye  know  what 
ye  have  done ;  the  leg  is  off  ;  that  ye  can  see,  and  so 
can  he,  that's  certin.  But  whin  ye  gev  him  physic,  ye 
don't  know  what  ye  are  doin'.  Ye  are,  in  a  manner, 
wurrkin'  in  the  darrk.  Ye  have  to  wait.  Somethin'  de- 
pinds  on  the  medsin,  and  somethin1  on  the  man's  pidi- 
gree.  If  his  grandmother  culdn't  take  casthor  ile,  the 
man  can't,  in  nine  toimes  out  of  tin.  What  are  ye  to 
do  ?     This  is  the  oncertin  side." 

"I  thought,"  interrupted  Bob,  "that  the  uncertain 
side  was  when  the  man  took  the  medicine  and  then 
refused  to  pay  his  bill." 

"That's  the  calamitous  side,"  replied  Tim,  "but  we 


74  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

are  not  discussin'  now  the  finances,  but  the  thary  of 
the  professhun.  There's  dochters  and  dochters  ;  the 
wan  studies  the  finances  solely,  but  we  are  not  on  the 
make." 

"You  must  be  quite  a  doctor  by  this  time,  Tim,"  said 
Bob,  quizzingly. 

"  The  thary  of  medsin  consists,  first,  of  the  essentials, 
thin  of  the  corporosities,  and,  lastly,  of  the  predica- 
mints.  I  got  into  the  corporosities,"  responded  Tim, 
"and  thin  I  wuld'nt  be  let." 

"  How  was  that,  why  wouldn't  you  be  let  ?  " 

"  Well,  it  was  ould  Mrs.  Marks  who  had  a  pain.  She 
kem  up  here,  and  she  sat  the  whole  furenoon,  and 
finally,  sez  she,  lThe  dochter  was  to  lave  me  a  com- 
pund,' did  he  do  it?" 

"A  compund,  sez  I  to  meself.  'Now  a  compund  is 
exactly  what  I  kin  make.'  So  I  sez,  k  he  did,'  and  I 
wint  to  the  dochter's  case,  and  I  made  her  up  a  bottle 
with  a  little  of  everything  in  the  case.  I  was  that  particu- 
lar about  it,  I  didn't  put  in  anything  more  of  wan  kind 
than  another.  It  was  as  foine  a  compund  as  iver  wint 
out  av  any  shop,  and  I  gev  her  the  full  av  the  bottle, 
and  charged  her  forty  cints.  She  wint  aff,  and  whin 
the  dochter  kem  back  I  gev  him  the  forty  cints,  and 
tould  him  what  I  had  done." 

"What  did  he  do  ?  "  laughed  Bob. 

11  He  dhruv  down  to  the  ould  lady's  house  as  fast  as 
he  cud  dhrive,  an'  tuk  the  bottle  away  from  her  be- 
fore she  had  a  chance  tothry  the  compund,  an'  he  kem 
back  an'  he  booted  me  all  aroond  the  place.  I  niver 
seen  him  so  mad  as  he  war  that  day." 

"You  should  have  tried  it  on  the  dog,"  said  Bob's 
companion. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  75 

"I  did,"  replied  Tim. 

"  Ah,  ha  !  and  what  became  of  him  ?  " 

"  He  wint  ded." 

"  You're  a  treasure,"  remarked  Bob's  companion, "  you 
ought  to  be  a  drug  clerk." 

"  It's  all  right  about  the  thary  of  medsin,  but  I  have 
discovered  this,"  returned  Tim,  "it's  not  physic  that 
does  the  wurrk  —  it's  moighty  little  to  do  wid  it." 

"  What  does  it,  then  ?  "  asked  Bob,  desirous  of  drawing 
Tim  out. 

"  It's  sthyle." 

"  Style,"  echoed  Bob. 

"  That's  phat  it  is,"  "Ye  see  wan  of  these  big  doch- 
ters  drivin'  aroond  about  wid  a  cupay  and  a  driver  wid 
a  black  hat.  He  comes  up  to  a  house,  an'  he  goes 
whiz  up  to  the  dure,  an'  he  opens  it,  an'  he  goes  prancin' 
in  wid  his  brist  swellin'  out  in  front,  and  he  a  smellin' 
of  peppermint  and  ashfetidy  an'  droogs,  as  if  he  was 
gevin'  his  mind  wholly  to  physic,  and  he  sez  to  the 
sick  man,  '  How  are  we  to-day  ?'  An'  he  talks,  an'  he 
uses  big  wurrds,  an'  takes  upon  himsilf  half  the  dis- 
ayse,  an'  he  bounces  around,  an'  he  gives  direcshuns, 
an'  sez  he,  l  take  a  tayspoonfui  out  of  this  glass  ivery 
half  hour,  an'  a  tablespoonful  out  av  that  wan  ivery 
fifteen  minits,'  and  he  puts  a  termomether  undher  the 
man's  tongue,  and  he  smiles  softly  to  himself  ;  and  the 
man,  sez  he  to  himself,  the  '  disayse  is  bruk,  or  he 
wudn't  be  that  confident ;'  an'  thin  he  gits  up,  and 
sez:  'O'll  tackle  a  little  soup/  an'  he  recovers.  He 
pays  the  dochter's  big  bill  wid  saycret  satisfacshun, 
whin  all  he  needed  was  a  little  starvation  and  soup  in 
the  first  place." 

M  Is  this  the  way  Dr.  Cavallo  practises  ?" 


?6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"  Ah  !  the  Dochter  is  that  kind  an'  careful  that  whin 
he  goes  into  a  sick  room  he  stheps  so  gintly  and 
quiet  loike  that  the  man  sez,  '  Oi'm  ashamed  to  be  lyin' 
here  sick  whin  I  ought  to  be  at  wurrk,'  and  so  he  gits  up 
at  wance." 

"He  hypnotizes  them,  eh?"  said  Bob's  companion. 

"  He  does  nothing  of  the  kind,"  echoed  a  deep  voice 
behind  them,  and  they  turned,  for  Dr.  Cavallo  had 
walked  in,  and  going  up  to  Bob's  companion,  slapped 
him  on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  "Seidel,  old  man,  how 
are  you  ?  " 

"I  did  not  suppose  you  would  know  me,"  replied 
Seidel,  answering  to  his  name. 

"As  if  I  could  ever  forget  you?  Where  have  you 
been  ?     How's  bacteriology  ?" 

The  other  laughed.  *  Bacteriology  has  had  to  yield 
to  more  pressing  business.     I  am  now  an  honest  miner." 

Tim  had  been  sliding  near  the  door.  He  had  at  last, 
after  repeated  efforts,  attracted  Bob's  attention,  and  by 
an  expressive  pantomime,  had  indicated  to  him  that  he 
must  not  reveal  anything  that  had  passed  between 
them. 

Bob,  good-naturedly,  gave  him  back,  in  the  same 
pantomime,  the  assurance  that  they  might  saw  both  his 
legs  off  before  the  secret  should  be  torn  from  him,  and 
then  Tim  discreetly  slid  down  the  back  way  to  chat 
with  the  driver  and  have  a  look  at  the  doctor's  horses. 

When  this  had  been  done,  Bob  arose  and  said  : 
"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  must  attend  to  some  business. 
Seidel  is  staying  with  me,  Doctor,  and  you  must  come 
up.  You  haven't  been  to  see  us  for  a  long  time.  I 
will  leave  you  two  to  talk  over  old  times,  and  when  you 
get  through,  Seidel,  drop  into  the  office  where  you 
were  this  forenoon." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  J  J 

With  this  Bob  took  himself  away,  leaving  the  two 
together. 

Cavallo  looked  at  his  old  friend  and  pupil  with  a 
pleased  expression  on  his  face.  "  Old  fellow,  it  does 
me  good  to  see  you,  and  they  tell  me  that  you  have 
grown  rich." 

Seidel  laughed  a  hard,  metallic  laugh.  "I  have 
made  some  money.  I  went  west,  as  you  know,  tried 
the  practice  of  medicine.  Too  slow.  Then  I  dabbled 
a  little  in  mines,  got  hold  of  some  mining  stock,  sold 
it,  got  hold  of  some  more,  sold  that,  began  to  make 
money.  Finally  threw  my  practice  to  the  winds  and 
started  out  as  a  stock  broker,  a  promoter,  or  whatever 
you  call  it." 

"What  is  there  in  selling  mining  stocks?"  asked  the 
doctor. 

k4A  big  commission,"  promptly  responded  the  other. 
"  Mining  is  like  a  lottery.  You  may  succeed,  and  you 
may  not.  You  are  perpetually  on  the  eve  of  striking  it 
rich.  The  very  next  day  you  may  hit  a  perfect  bonanza, 
but  in  the  meantime  you  need  money.  It  takes  money 
to  dig  through  porphyry  and  quartz  and  to  follow  a 
lead  that  may  after  all  be  a  false  fissure.  If  you  hit  it, 
you  are  all  right.  I  don't  want  any  more  in  mine. 
My  specialty  is  in  selling  stocks,  not  in  operating  the 
mines." 

uBut  are  the  mines  worth  anything?"  inquired 
Cavallo. 

"  Oh,  some  of  them  are,  but  I  am  not  furnishing 
brains  for  both  ends  of  the  trade.  If  the  mine  is  a 
good  one,  some  one  will  make  money  out  of  it,  if  it  is 
a  bad  one,  they  only  follow  the  experience  of  ten  thou- 
sand others." 


78  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"Seidel,"  returned  Cavallo,  1<I  would  rather  practice 
medicine." 

The  other  blushed  under  the  steady  gaze  of  his  old- 
time  friend.  At  last  he  replied,  "  Now,  my  dear  fellow, 
this  is  as  legitimate  a  calling  as  any.  The  world  values 
you  for  what  you  have,  not  what  you  can  do.  The  age 
of  philanthropy  has  gone  by.  Make  your  pile  and  then 
preach.  'Laugh  and  the  world  laughs  with  you. 
Weep  and  you  weep  alone.1  The  motto  nowadays  is 
4  Chisel  your  neighbor  if  you  can,  he'll  do  the  same  by 
you.'  The  new  gospel  is,  '  Do  your  neighbor  or  he  will 
do  you.'  " 

"And  your  duty  to  humanity?"  said  Cavallo. 

"Duty  to  humanity!  my  dear  sir.  Don't  you  know 
that  Vanderbilt  voiced  the  new  gospel  when  he  said, 

4  The  public  be  d .'     Of  course  !  What  does  the  law 

of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  mean?  Why,  to  crowd  the 
weaker  ones  to  the  wall  and  get  what  you  can.1' 

"The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  Seidel,  is 
that  the  noblest  will  survive.  To  follow  your  gospel, 
as  you  call  it,  is  to  render  the  race  unfit  to  survive  and 
it  will  be  overborne.'1 

u  Science  shows  us  that  life  is  a  warfare.  The  strong- 
est lives,  the  weak  perish.  This  is  all  that  there  is 
to  it.r1 

"And  God,"  added  Cavallo. 

The  other  burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter.  "And  you,  a 
medical  man,  spring  that  old  chestnut?  God?  what  is 
he  but  a  mere  abstraction,  a  figment  hatched  in  the 
brains  of  priests  in  order  to  rob  the  people  and  make 
them  pay  tribute.  Show  him  to  me  under  the  micro- 
scope and  then  I  will  believe  in  him." 

"Your  philosophy  on  this  point  is  as  bad  as  your 
conclusion,"  replied  Cavallo. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  79 

Just  then  the  telephone  sounded,  and  the  doctor 
went  to  it.  Seidel  arose  with:  "Well,  I  see  that  you 
will  be  busy  professionally ;  I  will  come  around  again. 
Good  day."     And  out  he  went. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  day  was  dark  and  muggy.  There  was  a  heavy 
feeling  in  the  air  that  rendered  it  difficult  to  respire. 
As  Dr.  Cavallo  reached  his  office,  a  call  on  his  slate 
made  him  stop  and  pause.  "Another  time  in  Abbot's 
Row,  with  the  O'HaraV  he  muttered  wrathfully  to 
himself.  Then  he  went  into  his  office,  filled  up  his 
medicine  case,  and  started  off,  for  he  knew  that  he 
should  need  a  full  supply.  The  Row  was  the  terror  of 
the  city.  It  stood  in  a  hollow.  A  drain  had  been  be- 
gun some  time  before,  and  had  nearly  reached  it,  but 
when  it  came  to  the  Row,  Mr.  Abbot,  a  wealthy  prop- 
erty owner,  fought  it  off,  refused  to  pay  his  proportion, 
and  had  it  stopped,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  a 
detriment  to  his  property.  So  the  drain,  qi*  sewer, 
stood  with  its  open  mouth,  a  few  feet  under  ground, 
discharging  a  perfect  flood  of  horrors  into  the  neigh- 
borhood. The  Row  was  a  long  and  irregular  pile  of 
buildings  that  fronted  it,  and  occupied  a  good  deal  of 
ground.  Of  architectural  beauty  it  did  not  and  could 
not  boast.  The  owner  was  penurious,  and  he  had  con- 
structed it  by  buying  every  old  barn  and  dwelling- 
house  that  he  could  purchase  cheap,  and  fitting  them 
up  for  dwellings  that  would  rent,  and  so  had  made  an 
odd,  patched-up,  tumble-down  place  enough,  but  he 
contrived  to  make  it  immensely  populous.     The  Board 


DOCTOR  CAVALLO  8 I 

of  Health  had  once  or  twice  condemned  it,  but  Abbot 
had  influence  enough  to  prevent  them  from  going  to 
any  extreme  measures  with  it.  He  was  always  going 
to  build,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  havirtg  it  pulled 
down.  He  was  so  excessively  philanthropic  in  his 
talk,  that  to  listen  to  him,  one  would  think  that  he  was 
about  to  overflow  into  a  very  benevolent  channel,  but 
none  of  his  schemes  in  this  direction  ever  materialized. 
On  the  contrary,  every  year  saw  him  getting  more  and 
more  selfish.  He  fought  every  public  improvement, 
was  opposed  to  water-works,  preferring  to  use  wells, 
although  the  danger  was  often  shown  him  of  taking 
water  from  the  contaminated  soil.  He  was  eloquent 
upon  the  building  of  cisterns.  He  was  against  all  street 
paving.  He  dwelt  continually  upon  expense,  and  he 
was  always  present  at  every  meeting  called  upon  to 
take  action  upon  anything  that  looked  like  costing 
money,  no  matter  what  it  was.  Under  the  pretense  of 
being  excessively  public-spirited,  he  was  as  mean  and 
grinding  a  miser  as  it  was  possible  to  be.  He  attended 
a  hide-bound  Presbyterian  church  where  every  man  sat 
stiff  and  upright,  and  believed,  with  himself,  that 
they  were  the  elect,  and  that  having  been  singled  out 
from  the  world  by  a  crowning  act  of  mercy,  it  was  their 
duty  to  keep  the  rest  of  mankind  in  subjection.  To  be 
sure,  it  was  argued  by  the  Board  of  Health,  that  if 
they  let  the  Row  alone  it  would  eventually  burn  or  rot 
down,  but  in  the  meantime  it  was  a  perfect  nest  of  dis- 
ease, and  under  the  conditions,  it  made  Dr.  Cavallo 
grind  his  teeth  every  time  he  was  called  to  attend  any- 
one there. 

This  time  he  pulled  his  hat  down  over  his  eyes  with 
the  air  of  a  man  engaged  or  about  to  engage  in  a  very 


82  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

unpleasant  duty.  He  walked  down  the  small  incline 
at  the  bottom  of  which  lay  the  Row.  It  arose  up 
before  him  in  all  its  unpleasantness.  He  stopped  at 
the  first  room,  where  Mrs.  O'Hara  lived.  The  poor 
woman  had  made  a  brave  fight  to  keep  her  little  flock 
together.  Her  old  man,  Pat,  sat  by  the  fire  nursing  his 
lame  back.  When  he  saw  the  doctor  he  arose,  and 
Mrs.  O'Hara,  with  many  apologies,  dusted  out  a  chair 
for  him  to  sit  in.  In  spite  of  their  poverty  the  little 
room  was  tolerably  clean.  Mike,  the  hope  of  the 
family,  a  heavily  built  youth  of  about  twenty,  sat  by 
the  fire  with  a  sullen  look  on  his  face. 

When  the  doctor  came  in  he  moved  just  enough  to 
let  him  pass  by  him.  The  doctor  had  attended  so  long 
on  the  family  that  he  knew  every  detail  of  their  daily 
life,  so  he  asked  Mike,  "What  are  you  doing  now?" 

"Nothing''  growled  Mike,  "can't  get  no  work." 

"Why,  have  you  tried?"  responded  the  doctor. 

Mike  arose,  ejected  a  quid  of  tobacco  from  his 
mouth,  and  then  grunted:  "The  Trades  Union  won't 
let  me  in." 

"  What  are  the  girls  doing?"  asked  Dr.  Cavallo,  of 
two  rather  bright,  pretty  girls,  the  eldest  of  whom 
must  have  been  eighteen. 

"We  hav'nt  been  doing  anything  since  the  factory 
closed,"  responded  the  eldest.  "  I  tried  to  get  into 
the  Ten  Cent  store,  but  they  only  pay  two  dollars  a 
week.     I  won't  work  for  that." 

"  Isn't  there  anything  else  that  you  can  do?"  inquired 
Dr.  Cavallo. 

"No,  there  isn't,"  she  answered  with  a  tinge  of  defi- 
ance in  her  manner.  "  I  will  starve  before  I  will  do 
housework.  I  won't  go  into  anyone's  kitchen,  that's 
flat." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  83 

The  old  man  broke  in  :  "  We  always  did  well  until 
these  times  kem  on,  and  I  lost  me  place  wid  the  city, 
and  thin  I  got  me  back  hurted  by  the  cavin'  in  on  me. 
Then  the  gurl's  factory  closed,  and  Moike,  the  domnd 
lazy  loon,  got  to  running  around  the  shtreets,  doin' 
nothing  but  divilment  and  belongin'  to  the  Ham  Head 
gang.  The  police  will  run  him  in  wan  of  these  days 
and  then  he'll  remimber  what  his  ould  faather  tould 
him." 

"You  bet  yer  sweet  life,  the  police  won't  run  him  in, 
either,1'  retorted  Mike.  "The  police  wasn't  made  yet 
that  could  handle  me.  I  don't  take  no  back  seat  for 
any  duffer  that  ever  wore  a  star." 

"Mike,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself,"  re- 
turned the  doctor,  "to  sit  here,  a  burden  on  your  poor 
old  father  and  mother.  Why  don't  you  go  out  and 
get  into  some  honest  occupation,  instead  of  being  a 
tough  and  loafer?" 

Mike  bristled  up  with  all  the  pugnacity  of  his  class. 
"See  here,  Doc',  I  don't  take  no  back  talk  from  a 
Sheeney.  Now  d'ye  moind  that.  I  attend  to  my  own 
business.     See!" 

This  was  too  much  for  his  father.  "  Ye  young  thafe," 
he  roared,  "do  you  sit  there  and  insoolt  your  faather's 
frinds.  Git  out!"  and  with  that  he  raised  his  crutch 
and  brought  it  down  with  such  force  on  Mike's  head 
that  he  laid  him  out  on  the  floor. 

This  set  them  all  off  afresh.  Mrs.  O'Hara  was  quite 
sure  that  Mike  was  killed,  the  girls  cried  and  wrung 
their  hands,  while  the  old  man  laughed,  "Ah — h,  a  little 
rap  like  that!  Manny's  the  time  I've  had  me  hed  laid 
open  worse  nor  that,  an'  I  niver  kicked." 

Dr.  Cavallo  stilled  the  commotion,     He  got  some 


84  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

water  and  bathed  Mike's  head  and  found  that  he  had 
received  a  scalp  wound  which  made  it  necessary  to 
bandage  it.  Then  he  had  to  attend  to  Pat's  lame  back 
and  show  him  how  to  rub  the  liniment  on  it.  This  was 
interspersed  with  running  remarks  from  Pat  on  the 
general  worthlessness  of  "  Moike "  and  how  since  he 
had  got  to  running  with  the  Ham  Heads,  he  was  rap- 
idly going  to  the  bad.  "All  that  domnd  b'y  talks  of 
now,  dochter,  is  prize  foights  and  scrappin'  schrapes. 
He  foight  a  prize  foight !  He  wud  run  like  a  loon  at  the 
first  soight  of  a  good  man's  dookes." 

Then  Mrs.  O'Hara  had  to  be  looked  after.  She  had  a 
pain  almost  everywhere  in  her  body  and  in  fact  she  was 
getting  the  rheumatism.  The  doctor  saw  to  all  of  his 
charges  and  was  about  leaving,  when  he  heard  a  shrill 
voice  say,u  Won't  you  please  come  and  see  my  Mamma?" 
He  turned  and  found  at  his  side  the  smallest  mite  of  a 
child.  Her  blue  eyes,  her  infantile  face,  her  air  of  gen- 
tle care  and  the  sad  notes  of  her  voice  showing  that 
misery  had  already  set  its  seal  upon  her.  young  as  she 
was,  made  the  doctor  reply,  M  Certainly,  my  little  one, 
show   me  where   your  mamma  is." 

"God  bless  the  child,"  cried  Pat,  "It's  little  Daisy." 


CHAPTER   X. 


Dr.  Cavallo  followed  her  out  into  the  passage 
and  into  a  small  back  room  and  there  lying  on  a  bed 
was  the  form  of  a  woman.  The  place  was  small  and 
the  ceiling  low.  The  floor  was  rotten  and  in  one  cor- 
ner it  had  given  way,  so  that  the  foundation  could  be 
seen  between  the  boards  and  the  base.  The  open 
window  allowed  the  fetid  smell  of  rotting  cabbage  and 
the  offal  that  had  been  thrown  out  |om  the  rooms 
above  to  fill  the  apartment.  The  back  yard  had  been 
the  receptacle  time  out  of  mind  for  all  the  waste  of  the 
Row.  The  place  was  filled  with  old  tin  cans,  beer  bot- 
tles in  great  number  and  variety,  even  a  stray  keg  or  two 
testified  to  times  when  some  inhabitant  of  the  Row  had 
been  able  to  gather  enough  together  to  afford  a  sym- 
posium. There  was  little  in  the  room  but  an  old 
stove,  cracked  and  broken,  with  one  of  its  legs  entirely 
gone  and  the  missing  member  supplied  by  a  brick  and 
the  other  three  in  various  stages  of  rickety  dilapidation. 
On  the  stove  were  the  remains  of  some  baked  potatoes, 
looking  as  if  the  person  who  had  last  prepared  the 
meal  had  used  the  top  of  the  stove  for  a  dining  table. 
There  was  a  table  on  which  there  were  a  few  dishes, 
but  these  were  all  dirty  and  filled  with  odds  and  ends, 
a  few  crumbs  of  bread  here  and  there  and  some  milk 
in  a  pitcher,  which  had  been  suffered  to  sour.     The 


86  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

ashes  had  been  taken  out  of  the  stove  and  had  been 
dumped  in  a  corner.  The  torn  paper,  the  soiled  walls, 
the  broken  furniture,  testified  to  the  last  degree  of  pov- 
erty and  want.  When  he  first  went  in  the  doctor  saw 
nothing  but  the  outline  of  a  woman  on  the  bed  and  she 
lay  so  still  that  he  thought  that  she  was  dead.  He 
went  to  the  bedside  and  explored  her  pulse  mechanic- 
ally, for  the  room  was  dark  so  that  he  could  not  see  at 
first,  but  as  his  eyes  became  used  to  the  gathering 
gloom  he  was  shocked,  for  before  him  on  the  bed  was 
a  well  known  face. 

It  was  that  of  a  woman  who  had,  some  years  before, 
come  to  the  city  as  the  wife  of  a  railroad  line  agent. 
He  was  a  good  fellow  and  he  had  a  good  position,  but 
he  began  to  drink,  and  after  a  time  he  lost  his  place, 
and  began  to  descend  lower  and  lower  in  the  scale. 
A  slight  noise  in  the  corner  of  the  room  attracted 
the  doctor's  attention,  and  he  looked  to  see  what 
it  was.  To  his  astonishment,  he  discerned  that  this 
was  the  husband,  the  once  popular  and  witty  James 
Dayton,  who  showed,  by  the  looks  of  his  face,  that 
he  had  been  drinking  heavily,  but  he  had  slept  it  off 
to  some  extent.  He  got  up  from  the  floor,  where 
he  had  flung  himself,  and  steadying  his  steps  with  an 
effort,  he  came  forward,  looked  at  the  doctor,  and  then 
came  up  to  the  bedside  extending  a  dirty  hand. 

All  that  remained  to  him  was  his  boisterous  off-hand 
way  —  the  last  touches  of  a  manner  that  had  formerly 
made  him  the  prince  of  good  fellows.  He  was  clothed 
in  a  coat  that  showed  the  worst  stages  of  decay,  and  his 
shirt  was  matted  with  dirt.  His  pants  were  a  pair  of 
old  overalls,  held  up  by  a  belt  around  the  waist,  the 
belt  consisting  of  a  piece  of  harness.     His  shoes  had 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  87 

been  thrown  away  by  some  more  fortunate  wearer,  but 
anything  was  good  enough  now  for  Jim  Dayton. 

"Doc.,"  he  stuttered,  "  how  are  ye?  Ye  see  we're  in 
pretty  tough  luck,  but  if  ye  kin  do  anything  for  the  old 
woman,  do  it,  and  I'll  make  it  all  right  yit." 

"James,"  entreated  the  sick  woman,  "  do  be  quiet." 

"That's  all  right,"  returned  the  drunkard,  "  I  know 
Doc.  and  he  knows  me.  I  aint  flush  just  at  present, 
but,  you  mark  me,  I'll  strike  it  rich  yit.  If  I  had  a 
little  money,  I  know  of  a  deal  I  could  go  into  that 
would  give  us  money  enough  to  allow  us  to  run  over 
the  people  in  this  town,  and  tell  'em  to  send  in  their 
bill." 

11  Dayton,"  returned  the  doctor,  "  I  am  shocked. 
Pray  be  quiet.  I  wish  to  hear  what  your  wife  wants." 

"  It's  all  right,  Doc,"  answered  the  inebriate.  "  Any- 
thing she  wants  she  ought  to  have.  She's  stuck  to  me 
through  thick  and  thin,  and  you  bet  yer  life  I  won't  go 
back  on  her  now." 

"  Oh,  God  !  "  murmured  the  poor  soul  from  her  bed, 
"  has  it  come  to  this  ?  James,  I  wish  that  you  would 
go  out,  I  want  to  speak  to  the  doctor." 

11  All  right,"  replied  the  other,  M  I'll  go.  I  tell  you, 
Doc,  we've  got  to  do  as  the  women  say.  When  they 
set  their  foot  down,  you  bet  we've  got  to  knuckle  to 
'em,"  and  with  this  he  staggered  out. 

The  poor  woman  moaned.  "  Oh,"  she  said,  "  Doc- 
tor, it  is  this  terrible  drink.  He  is  that  way  all  of  the 
time  ;  he  is  never  sober.  He  never  gave  me  an  unkind 
word  ;  always  good-natured.  He  never  struck  me,  or 
even  offered  to  do  so,  but  when  he  gets  liquor  in  his 
head,  he  is  this  same  good-natured,  shiftless,  incompe- 
tent fellow.     Any  one  can  do  with  him  what  he  likes. 


88  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Oh,'1  she  said,  and  she  wrung  her  hands,  "  what  am  I 
to  do  with  Daisy?  Doctor,  doctor,  promise  me  that 
when  I  die  you  will  look  after  my  little  girl.  It  is 
dreadful  to  think  of  leaving  her  here  with  all  of  these 
low  people." 

While  this  conversation  had  been  going  on,  the  little 
girl  had  drawn  near  her  mother  and  held  one  of 
her  hands.  As  she  heard  the  request  that  her  mother 
made,  she  turned  such  a  mute  and  appealing  glance 
upon  Dr.  Cavallo  that  the  sight  nearly  unmanned  him. 
The  poor  little  thing  had  seen  too  much  misery  to 
weep.  She  had  passed  all  of  that,  for  she  had  tasted, 
to  its  fullest  extent,  the  wretched  life  of  a  druukard's 
child.  Her  little  dress  scarcely  concealed  her  form. 
•She  was  pinched  by  starvation,  but  through  it  all  she 
strove  to  keep  up  a  perfect  composure.  She  only 
pressed  her  mother's  hand  and  looked  at  the  doctor. 

"  Have  you  no  friends?1' 

"None,  none,"  she  murmured.  "  My  father  cast  me 
off  because  I  wpuld  live  with  Mr.  Dayton,  but  I  thought 
when  he  gave  me  his  solemn  word  that  he  would  not 
drink  that  he  would  keep  it,  but  the  moment  he  is  with 
his  old  associates  he  forgets  everything  that  he  has 
promised.1' 

The  doctor  was  moved,  accustomed  as  he  was  to 
scenes  of  woe.  Going  to  the  door,  he  called  Dayton 
in,  and  as  that  individual  came  rollicking  back,  he 
said,  with  his  air  of  easy  indifference,  "Well,  have  you 
two  got  the  whole  thing  fixed  up?" 

"  Dayton ! "  said  the  doctor,  "  stop  your  talk  and 
listen  to  me.  Your  wife  wishes  me  to  take  your  little 
daughter  and  find  a  home  for  her.  Do  you  understand 
what  this  means?1' 

"All  right,1'  he  replied,  with  a  laugh.     "If  it  suits 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  89 

my  wife,  it  suits  me.  I  can  see  Daisy  when  I  get  in 
luck  again.  I  tell  you  that  it  will  only  be  a  few  days 
now  when  this  thing  will  be  different.  It's  a  long  lane 
that  has  no  turning,  and  you  can  bet  that  by  and  by  my 
luck  will  come  out.  Daisy  will  ride  in  her  carriage 
yet." 

With  many  a  wise  shake  of  the  head  and  curses  on 
his  luck,  Dayton  repeated,  over  and  over,  that  his  luck 
would  change,  and  that  when  it  did,  he  would  not  for- 
get his  friends.  Those  who  had  stuck  to  him  he  would 
recompense.  His  wife  should  wear  diamonds  and 
Daisy  should  have  a  new  silk  dress  every  day.  He  sat 
down  at  the  foot  of  the  bed  and  went  over  and  over 
this  until  he  wearied  them  all. 

Finally,  Dr.  Cavallo  went  out  and  returned  with  Mrs. 
O'Hara.  He  made  an  arrangement  with  that  woman 
and  her  two  daughters  lor  the  care  of  poor  Mrs.  Day- 
ton and  for  the  attention  that  little  Daisy  so  sadly 
needed.  He  then  left  some  medicine  and  gave  direc- 
tions for  some  clothing  for  the  little  girl. 


CHAPTER  XL 


He  completed  his  act  of  charity  and  congratulated 
himself  that  he  was  through,  but  he  was  not  to  escape 
so  easily.  As  he  went  into  the  yard  to  try  and  take  a 
shorter  cut  to  the  street  cars,  a  head  was  thrust  out  of 
the  window  and  a  voice  said,  uOh,  Doc,  come  up  and 
look  at  the  kids." 

He  turned  back  and  mounting  the  stairway  he 
groped  his  way  into  a  hall,  and  as  he  came  along 
the  passage  a  door  was  opened  and  he  went  into  it. 
It  was  a  long,  low  room  filled  with  cribs  in  a  row 
against  the  wall.  A  man  was  anxiously  looking  into 
one  of  the  cribs,  and  as  the  doctor  came  in  he  ex- 
plained: 

"This  is  old  Mother  Wooley's  nursery  and  these  little 
things  have  been  crying  until  I  could  not  stand  it  and 
I  came  in."  At  this  half  a  dozen  children  set  up  a 
piteous,  wailing  cry  and  the  doctor  inquired:  "For 
heaven's  sake,  what  is  this?" 

There  was  dirt  and  squalor  everywhere.  The  in- 
fants were  in  cradles,  some  wrapped  in  rags,  some  with 
coverlids  over  them.  There  was  a  dish  of  milk  on  the 
stove  and  a  few  remains  of  food  on  an  old  table,  but  it 
looked  like  a  chamber  of  horrors,  while  on  the  bed  was 
an  old  crone  fast  asleep,  evidently  in  a  drunken  de- 
bauch. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  gi 

The  doctor  shook  her  roughly.  "  So  this  is  old 
Mother  Wooley's  baby  farm,  is  it,"  he  said  to  himself. 
"Great  heavens,  to  think  that  this  old  hag  is  suffered 
to  run  this  establishment  under  the  very  nose  of  the 
police!"  He  continued  shaking  her  until  at  last  she 
sat  up  and  began  to  make  a  clucking  noise.  "There, 
there ;  lie  still.  There,  there  ;  that's  a  deary.  Lie 
still ;  nursey  will  rock  you  to  sleep."  Then,  as  she 
further  opened  her  eyes,  she  saw  the  doctor  and  sat  up. 

"Oh,  doctor,"  she  began  in  a  whining  voice,  "  I'm  so 
tired  looking  after  my  little  dears  that  I  just  laid  down 
to  get  a  little  sleep." 

"Get  up,"  replied  the  doctor  sternly,  "  something 
is  wrong  here  !"  He  struck  a  light  with  a  match  that 
he  had  in  his  pocket  and,  finding  a  broken  lamp, 
which  he  lighted,  went  over  to  the  crib,  lifting  one 
of  the  little  things  out,  held  it  up  to  the  light. 
"Just  as  I  thought,"  he  said,  "diphtheria.  Why,  the 
whole  town  will  be  infected  within  a  week  if  this  nest 
isn't  cleaned  out.  Why  haven't  you  reported  this  to 
the  city  physician?  " 

"It's  nothin'  but  croup,"  whined  she,  "and  I  can 
always  cure  croup  with  onion  syrup.  There's  no 
danger." 

He  was  disgusted  and  disheartened.  Here  in  the 
very  heart  of  civilization  and  in  a  wealthy  com- 
munity, this  old  hag  had  been  allowed  to  carry  on  her 
traffic,  for  it  was  evident  that  her  profit  lay  not  in 
bringing  the  children  up,  but  in  sending  them  down. 
He  did  what  he  could,  but  that  was  very  little.  At 
last  he  called  the  old  hag  up  to  him  and  said  : 

"Now,  I  want  you  to  attend  to  this.  See. that  no 
other  children  come  into  this  room  until  the  health 
officer  has  been  here." 


92  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

Then  he  turned  to  his  male  companion,  who  had 
been  looking  on  at  the  arrangements,  and  asked, 
"What  are  you  doing  here?" 

14  Repairing  the  roof,"  returned  the  other.  "  Old 
Abbot  gives  me  so  much  a  year  to  patch  his  buildings, 
and  he  has  a  standing  order  to  fix  up  this  old  rookery 
when  there  is  nothing  else  to  do.  So  when  it  leaks 
too  bad,  I  come  up  here  and  daub  some  tar  on  the  spots 
and  that  does  until  the  next  rain." 

"  It's  an  awful  place,"  said  the  doctor,  in  disgust. 

The  other  laughed,  "You  haven't  seen  it  yet.  Why 
that  old  hag  has  probably  a  thousand  lives  to  answer 
for.  When  they  come  to  make  up  the  slaughter  of  the 
innocents,  her  order  wHI  be  running  over.  But  you 
can  see  sights  that  would  make  your  heart  ache  any 
time.     Look  at  that  now." 

The  doctor  looked  out  of  the  window  and  he  saw  a 
little  child  tumbling  along  with  a  tin  pail  in  its  hand. 

"  What  d'ye  think  of  that?  "  said  the  roofer. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  the  doctor. 

"That  little  thing,  it  can't  be  more  than  five  years 
old,  has  been  rushing  the  growler,  that  is,  getting  beer 
in  its  can,"  he  said  apologetically,  seeing  that  the  doc- 
tor did  not  understand  him,  "and  the  fellows  down  in 
the  saloon  have  been  getting  the  little  thing  drunk. 
See,  it  can  hardly  walk." 

"Good  God!"  ejaculated  Cavallo. 

"There  is  no  telling  what  that  Ham  Head  gang  won't 
do,"  said  the  roofer.  "The  Row  don't  wake  up  until 
about  midnight,  but  from  that  until  four  is  the  most 
God-forsaken  place  in  the  city.  Women  crazy  drunk, 
fighting  and  screaming.  Men  yelling  at  the  tops  of 
their  voices.     Little  children  running  in  and  out  of  the 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  93 

saloons  with  cans,  into  the  rooms.  Every  sort  of  wick- 
edness and  crime  is  carried  on  here  and  allowed  to  run 
riot." 

44  Why  do  the  police  not  shut  down  on  it?" 

14  Because,1'  replied  the  roofer,  M  some  one  has  a  pull." 

The  doctor  frowned  and  then  added,  "  Some  one  else 
will  have  to  have  a  'pull,'  too."  With  this  he  went  off 
to  find  the  Board  of  Health. 

The  gentlemen  who  constituted  this  body  were  in 
their  rooms  in  the  City  Hall,  and  as  Cavallo  went  in  they 
greeted  him.  He  briefly  stated  his  errand,  that  there 
was  a  bad  case,  in  fact,  several  bad  cases,  of  diptheria 
in  Abbott's  Row.  They  made  a  note  of  it  and  then 
promised  that  they  would  have  the  necessary  warning 
put  up  the  next  day.  This  warning  consisted  of  tack- 
ing up  a  large  card  with  the  word  "  Diptheria"  on  it  on 
the  building.  Then  there  was  a  pause.  Finally  Dr. 
Cavallo  remarked:  M  Gentlemen,  there  is  another  thing, 
I  wish  to  enter  formal  complaint  against  Abbott's  Row 
as  a  nuisance,  and  I  shall  insist  that  it  be  torn  down." 

The  members  of  the  Board  looked  at  each  other, 
finally  one  of  them  replied:  "Well,  you  know  how  it  is, 
Doctor,  I  don't  want  to  have  the  old  man  on  my  back. 
If  you  make  this  complaint  you  must  sign  it  yourself." 

"  That  is  what  I  will  do,"  replied  Dr.  Cavallo.  "  I 
shall  stand  to  my  guns.  Now  I  want  you  to  do  the 
same." 

11  Of  course  if  you  press  this  matter  we  shall  have  to 
act,  but  now,  see  here,"  said  the  physician  of  the  Board, 
taking  Cavallo  aside,  "  can't  you  put  this  off  until  after 
the  meeting  ot  the  Board  of  Supervisors?  They  elect  a 
County  Physician  next  week  and  I  am  a  candidate.  I 
tell  you  frankly,  between  us,  that  I  don't  want  to  go 


9'4  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

into  that  fight  with  a  row  on  my  hands  with  old  Abbott." 

ul  insist  upon  some  action  being  taken  at  once,"  re- 
turned Cavallo,  "and  it  must  be  attended  to." 

u  Well,  you  know  the  old  man  as  well  as  I  do  and 
you  know  that  this  will  make  an  awful  row.'" 

"  Let  it  make  what  row  it  will.  I  am  not  going  to  sit 
still  and  see  this  thing  carried  on  any  further,"  insisted 
Cavallo,  adding,  "Abbott's  Row  will  have  to  come 
down.1' 

He  was  not  satisfied  with  this,  but  he  himself  filled 
up  a  printed  form  stating  that  complaint  had  been 
made  that  Abbott's  Row  was  a  nuisance  and  a  menace 
to  the  general  health,  and  he  made  it  still  more  binding 
by  stating  that  this  action  was  taken  on  a  complaint 
made  by  Dr.  Cavallo  and  then  he  made  the  president 
of  the  Board  sign  it.  Still  fearing  that  the  exegencies 
of  ward  politics  would  defeat  the  whole  scheme,  he  took 
the  notice  and  dropped  it  into  the  mail  himself.  This 
done  he  went  to  his  room  and  slept  the  sleep  of  the 
just,  feeling  that  he  had  enlisted  for  the  fight  and  that 
he  was  now  ready  for  the  fray. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


The  next  morning  he  had  hardly  had  his  breakfast 
before  he  was  waited  on  by  no  other  than  Mr.  Abbott 
himself.  He  was  a  tall,  lean  man,  excessively  digni- 
fied and  important.  As  he  stood  in  the  office,  a  little 
bent  with  age,  he  was  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
Presbyterian  idea.  He  looked  as  if  he  had  swallowed 
the  five  points,  and  with  them  the  spirit  of  John  Calvin 
and  the  ghost  of  Michael  Servetus  into  the  bargain. 
While  he  was  dignified,  there  was  a  suggestion  of 
cringing  servility  in  everything  that  he  said.  It  was 
evident  that  he  wished  to  make  a  good  impression 
upon  the  doctor,  and  he  rubbed  his  hands  over  and 
over  with  that  air  of  washing  them  that  an  insincere 
person  often  uses.  He  asked,  with  a  smile  on  his  face 
that  was  little  short  of  ghastly,  if  this  was  Dr.  Cavallo. 

"That  is  my  name,"  replied  the  doctor. 

"Ah,  well  sir,  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  I  am  a  man  of 
business  and  in  my  morning  mail  was  a  notice  that  a 
complaint  had  been  lodged  against  me  on  account  of 
Abbott's  Row.  I  simply  wished  to  say  to  you  that  I 
am  now  having  plans  prepared  looking  to  erecting 
upon  that  site  commodious  and  comfortable  apartment 
houses.  I  believe,  sir,  in  homes  for  the  poor.  I  have 
always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  this  subject,  and  I  have 
now  come  to  the  fruition  of  a  scheme  that  has  been 


96  DOCTOR    CAYALLO 

long   in   my   mind.     I    shall 
model  homes." 

"  I  am  pleased  to  know  that,"  replied  Dr.  Cavallo 
dryly,  u  for  those  buildings  have  been  a  nest  of  disease 
and  a  nursery  of  filth  long  enough." 

"No  doubt,  sir,  no  doubt,'1  assented  Mr.  Abbott, 
"and  yet  they  have  been  a  great  accommodation  to 
many  poor  people  who  could  afford  no  other  place; 
but  for  the  shelter  of  those  rooms  many  a  poor  family 
would  have  suffered,  sir,  suffered." 

"  I  hope  you  will  attend  to  the  sewer,  too,  Mr.  Ab- 
bott, when  you  build,"  added  Cavallo. 

"I  certainly  shall,  sir.  I  intend  to  leave  nothing 
undone.  Perfect  sewerage,  water,  gas — and — and — n 
he  added,  as   if  the  thought  just  struck  him,  "electric 

light." 

"I  am  exceedingly  glad,1'  returned  Dr.  Cavallo,  "and 
I  shall  be  proud  to  think  that  I  was  instrumental  even 
in  a  small  degree  in  hastening  forward  so  great  an  im- 
provement," 

"Yes,  sir;  yes,  sir,11  responded  Mr.  Abbott,  "and 
now  I  shall  ask  you  to  kindly  recall  your  complaint 
until  I  get  my  plans  perfected.  I  assure  you,  sir,  it 
will  only  be  a  few  days."  As  he  said  this  a  grin  of 
satisfaction  overspread  his  face  and  made  him  look 
ten  times  uglier  than  before.  He  was  a  picture  of 
avarice,  of  craft  in  thinking  that  he  had  overreached 
the  doctor  as  he  had  many  others.  For  years  he  had 
used  these  same  promises  to  keep  the  hand  of  author- 
ity off  Abbott's  Row.  He  knew  that  if  the  doctor 
pressed  his  complaint  he  was  likely  to  be  indicted  for 
keeping  a  nuisance,  for  allowing  a  saloon  to  run  with- 
out warrant  of  law,  and  for  harboring  females  of  ill  re- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  97 

pute.  He  had  maintained  this  place  in  spite  of  every- 
thing that  had  been  done.  When  he  received  the 
notice  from  Dr.  Cavallo  he  was  seriously  alarmed,  but 
now  this  was  done  away  with.  He  had  conquered 
again,  and  his  grin  of  satisfied  pride  deepened  as  he 
waited  for  the  doctor's  reply. 

"Oh,"  replied  Cavallo  good  naturedly,  "there  is  no 
necessity  for  doing  that.  Let  the  workmen  go  ahead 
and  tear  down  the  buildings.  Then  the  ground  will  be 
cleared  for  the  new  improvements." 

"Tear  down  the  buildings,"  echoed  Abbott,  "why 
should  they  tear  down  the  buildings?" 

"So  as  to  get  the  ground  cleared  for  the  new  edi- 
fices." 

"I  tell  you,"  roared  Abbott,  "  that  those  buildings 
don't  pay  two  per  cent,  on  their  cost.  No  man  can 
afford  to  put  up  buildings  in  this  town  tor  rent.  What 
with  taxes  and  insurance  and  repairs  it  will  bankrupt 
anyone  who  tries  it." 

"Then  you  are  not  going  to  put  up  those  model 
houses  that  you  spoke  about  ?"  asked  Cavallo,  quietly. 

44  I  will  sell  the  whole  thing  out  at  once,  if  I  can  get 
enough  to  guarantee  me  one  per  cent,  on  my  money," 
he  shouted,  getting  more  and  more  angry. 

"Very  well,"  assented  Cavallo,  "  I  will  find  some  one 
to  take  you  up  on  that  proposition." 

"Ah,  ha,"  yelled  the  old  man,  "I  see  it  now,  it  is  a 
Jew  trick,  and  you  want  to  get  hold  of  that  property 
cheap.  This  is  your  boasted  philanthropy.  It  is  a 
scheme,  a  plot  to  try  and  make  me  sell  out.  This  is  a 
real  estate  swindle,  and  I  know  it." 

44  Mr.  Abbott,  you  have  made  half  a  dozen  statements 
here   that  are  false,  and  this   is  like   all  of   the  rest. 


98  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

I  shall  not  recall  my  complaint.  On  the  contrary, 
I  shall  press  it,  and  of  this  you  may  be  assured,  that 
Abbott's  Row  must  come  down." 

The  old  man  boiled  with  passion.  He  shook  with 
rage,  and  for  a  time  he  was  unable  to  speak.  When 
he  did  find  voice,  he  burst  .out,  "You  sneaking  and 
infernal  Jew,  you  outcast  and  worthless  fag-end  of  a 
detested  race,  you  talk  of  trying  to  help  your  fellows, 
when  you  are  simply  arranging  to  steal  my  property  ; 
yes,  sir,  steal  my  property.  I  have  lived  in  this  city 
for  sixty  years,  and  I  have  always  paid  my  debts.  You 
are  the  first  man  who  ever  dared  to  bring  a  charge 
against  me.  But  I  tell  you  don't  go  too  far,  don't  you 
aggravate  me,  sir.  I  will  not  stand  everything.  I  will 
publish  you,  sir,  to  the  world  as  a  Jew.  I  will  show  you 
up  to  the  whole  city,  I  will  destroy  your  practice,  I  will 
drive  you  from  town." 

He  had  talked  until  he  was  out  of  breath,  and  he 
now  stopped,  and  stood  panting  with  rage,  the  white 
foam  of  passion 'on  his  lips,  and  his  teeth  snarling  in 
his  head  like  a  disappointed  wolf,  the  picture  of  baffled 
greed,  of  disappointed  avarice,  of  malice  and  of  spite. 

Dr.  Cavallo  looked  at  him  with  contempt.  M  Mr. 
Abbott,  you  poor  craven,  words  are  useless,  for  you 
are  past  all  expostulation.  You  have  for  years 
fattened  on  the  misery  of  your  fellow-creatures  whom 
you  have  crowded  into  that  infamous  Row.  You  have 
made  it  a  nest  of  villainy,  the  hiding  place  for  fraud 
and  the  cover  for  crime.  You  have  stood  by  and  seen 
men  destroyed,  women  debauched,  and  little  innocent 
children  murdered.  As  long  as  you  could  get  a  single 
cent,  you  have  allowed  this  to  go  on,  and  you  have 
steadily  checked  and  stopped  every  effort  to  cleanse 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  99 

'  the  foul  ulcer.  It  has  been  a  breeding  place  for  dis- 
ease and  a  lazar  house  of  suffering.  You  cannot  rail 
the  seal  from  off  this  bond,  and  your  Row  must  and 
shall  go." 

"  Now,  sir,"  he  added,  "you  will  oblige  me  by  getting 
out  of  my  office  with  your  utmost  speed."  As  he  said 
this,  he  drew  himself  up,  and  the  miser,  yelling, 
11  Don't,  dont,  I'll  go,"  pattered  downstairs  as  fast  as 
his  legs  could  carry  him. 

A  few  hours  later  a  very  dignified  gentleman  called 
to  see  Dr.  Cavallo.  He  introduced  himself  as  Dr. 
McHale.  He  was  very  cordial,  and  after  beating 
about  the  bush  awhile,  told  Cavallo  that  he  had 
called  on  a  particular  matter  of  business.  **  My  vener- 
able friend,  Mr.  Abbott,  a  warm  hearted,  but  eccentric 
soul,  was  seriously  hurt  at  some  little  misunderstanding 
that  had  occurred.  Really  he  had  in  mind  extensive 
improvements,  but  he  is,  my  dear  sir,  I  assure  you,  a 
man  who  can  be  coaxed,  but  cannot  be  driven.  We 
have  to  be  very  careful  with  him  in  -church  matters. 
He  is  liberal  to  a  fault  if  you  stroke  him  the  right  way, 
but,  sir,  he  is  like  an  enraged  tiger  if  he  is  aroused. 
Now,  really,  my  dear  Doctor  Cavallo,  I  wish  that  you 
would  yield  a  little  in  this  matter.  If  you  will  with- 
draw your  complaint,  I  shall,  I  am  confident,  be  able  to 
show  him  his  duty,  and  he  will  then  take  this  action  of 
his  own  accord." 

"  Dr.  McHale,"  said  Cavallo,  "with  all  due  respect  to 
your  cloth  and  your  profession,  I  do  not  believe  that 
Abbott  will  ever  build  anything  better  than  he  has  now. 
He  has  evaded  this  thing  and  whined  and  begged  off 
for  years  and  the  Row  is  just  what  it  always  has  been, 
a  disseminator  of  disease,  a  nuisance  to  the  city  and  a 
menace  to  the  public  health." 


100  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Dr.  McHale  was  a  large  man  with  a  tremendous 
head  and  mutton  chop  whiskers.  He  was  a  minister 
of  the  gospel  and  this  fact  was  proclaimed  in  his  manner 
of  looking  at  you,  in  the  way  he  carried  his  cane,  in  his 
clean  shaven  chin,  in  his  high  cheek  bones,  in  his  majes- 
tic manner,  and  in  the  very  fit  of  his  cravat.  He  had 
another  sign  of  Presbyterianism,  too,  that  was  apparent 
at  once.  He  had  no  stomach  and  he  looked,  with  his 
large  head,  as  if  nature  had  spent  so  much  material  on 
that  organ  that  she  had  nothing  left  for  the  rest  of  him. 
He  now  assumed  a  benevolent  aspect,  as  of  a  man  who 
knew  all  the  social  questions  and  had  them  at  his  fin- 
gers1 ends  and  could  tell  them  off  at  once.  He  put  on 
an  air  of  deep  wisdom,  and  when  it  came  to  looking 
wise,  no  one  could  equal  Dr.  McHale. 

41  Oh,  well,"  he  replied,  "  I'll  tell  you  about  that. 
You  have  to  have  these  places.  Every  large  city  con- 
tains them.  Why,  I  went  to  New  York  once,  and  an- 
other clergyman  and  myself  went  through  the  slums, 
as  they  are  called,  with  a  policeman.  It  was  perfectly 
awful,  the  dens  of  vice  that  we  saw.  It  made  me  sick, 
but  still  you  have  to  have  them.'1 

M  Not  in  this  city  at  any  rate." 

14  Oh,  yes,  you  do.  Now,  my  dear  sir,  I  am  an  older 
man  than  you  and  you  ought  to  listen  to  the  wisdom 
of  age.  If  you  give  these  people  more  comfortable 
quarters,  you  simply  fix  them  so  that  they  can  earn 
more  money  to  give  to  the  priest.  Every  effort  that  is 
made  to  lift  these  people  up  from  their  condition  is 
only  pouring  so  much  more  money  into  the  pockets 
of  the  Catholic  church." 

44  Dr.  McHale,"  replied  Cavallo  with  dignity,  "you 
disgrace  your  cloth  by  such  arguments.     Your  words 


DOCTOR    CAVALT.Q  101 

are  instinct  with  savage  bigotry  and  oppression.  For 
my  part  I  blush  for  you.  I  do  not  wonder  that  Mr. 
Abbott  lives  the  life  of  miserly  greed  that  he  does,  if  his 
spiritual  teacher  is  constructed  in  so  narrow  a  mold."" 

The  reverend  doctor  grew  very  red  in  the  face  and  he 
could  only  mutter  that  he  trusted  that  he  had  not  been 
misunderstood.  But  Cavallo  was  boiling  with  rage 
and  only  bowed  him  loftily  out.  He  had  not  recovered 
his  equanimity  when  the  door 'opened  and  the  Mayor 
came  in. 

Mayor  Sawyer  was  a  good  fellow,  always  ready  to 
do  anyone  a  favor,  and  as  he  promised  everybody 
everything,  he  was  continually  in  hot  water,  but  he 
managed  to  get  out  of  every  scrape  as  fast  as  he  got  into 
them,  by  making  more  promises.  He  came  jauntily  in 
and  began  at  once,  "I  say  Doc,  about  this  Abbott 
matter.  The  old  man  is  as  mad  as  a  wet  hen.  He 
wants  me  to  see  what  can  be  done  about  getting  you 
to  withdraw  your  complaint.  You  know  that  Row  of 
his  ?  I  told  him  that  they  ought  to  come  down,  which 
is  all  true,  but  I  kind  o'  want  to  satisfy  him.  He's  a 
power  with  the  Presbyterians  and  I  got  a  big  pull  out 
of  them  the  last  time  I  ran.  You  see  I  agreed  to  shut 
up  the  saloons  Sunday  if  they  would  vote  for  me,  and 
then  after  I  was  elected,  the  boys  kind  o'  wanted  me  to 
be  liberal  and  I  had  to  kind  o'  shut  one  eye  ye  know. 
Now,  if  I  can  get  this  matter  fixed  up  it  will  square  me. 
You'll  be  wanting  something  of  me,  City  Physician  or 
County  Physician,  or  something  of  that  kind.  Dr. 
McHale  has  been  around  and  old  Abbott  himself. 
They  are  a  pretty  powerful  faction." 

u  So  they  want  the  saloons  closed  on  Sunday,  do  they, 
and   allow   a  pest-house,  an  unmitigated   nuisance,  a 


102  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

chamber  of  horrors,  a  place  where  baby  farming  and 
all  unclean  things  fester  and  rot,  to  run  ?  Well, 
I  hardly  know  which  is  the  greater  sinner  in  the  sight 
of  heaven,"  said  Cavallo  "  Abbott  or  his  preacher  ? 
But  this  I  am  determined  upon,  Abbott's  Row  must  go. 
I  will  pursue  this  unrighteous  old  man  until  he  removes 
that  place  from  the  sight  of  the  sun.  I  will  not  abate 
one  jot,  and  he  shall  find  one  man  in  this  city  whom  he 
can  neither  lie  to  nor  dissuade  from  his  purpose." 

The  Mayor  rejoined  :  "  Well,  I  have  done  all  that  I 
agreed  to,  and  have  exerted  my  influence.  If  any  one 
says  anything  to  you  about  it,  you  say  that  I  called  on 
you.     You  understand  how  it  is  with  me?  " 

As  he  went  out,  Cavallo  smiled  grimly  to  himself. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Having  thus  carried  his  point.  Dr.  Cavallo  did  not 
rest  until  he  had  seen  the  Board  of  Health  condemn 
the  Row  as  a  nuisance,  and  in  spite  ot  the  efforts  of 
Abbott  to  stop  it,  they  gave  orders  to  level  it  to  the 
ground.  Then  the  doctor  found  himself  confronted 
with  a  new  problem,  what  to  do  with  the  tenants  ? 
Some  of  these  were  like  Pat  O'Hara,  indifferent  to 
their  surroundings,  but  occupying  the  Row  because 
the  rent  was  cheap.  Others  were  on  the  border  line 
between  the  good  and  the  bad,  but  would  live 
upright  lives  if  the  environments  were  good.  Some 
were  wholly  bad,  and  were  made  worse  by  the  oppor- 
tunities for  evil  that  surrounded  them.  With  a  saloon 
near  at  hand,  and  every  chance  for  supplying  their  evil 
appetites,  they  drifted  down  lower  and  lower,  like  Jim 
Dayton,  with  every  succeeding  year. 

Mr.  Abbott,  with  the  cunning  of  his  craft,  claimed 
that  he  was  really  sheltering  a  lot  of  poor,  who  would 
otherwise  be  put  upon  the  street.  He  induced  some  of 
his  tenants  to  goto  the  newspapers,  and  state  that,  were 
it  not  for  him,  they  would  be  thrust  out  in  the  cold. 
One  of  the  papers,  edited  by  a  man  who  was  always 
sneering  at  everything  that  smacked  of  progress,  openly 
denounced  the  doctor's  efforts,  and  insisted  that  he 
was  only  trying  to  get  cheap  notoriety. 


104  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

In  this  emergency,  Cavallo  bethought  himself  of  Mrs. 
Bernheim.  The  Bernheims  were  the  leaders  of  society, 
Christian  and  otherwise.  Mr.  Bernheim  was  a  reserved, 
quiet  man,  but  with  the  unmistakable  manners  of  a 
leader.  His  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond,  and  what- 
ever he  said  was  regarded  as  law  throughout  the  city. 
His  many  business  ventures  did  not  allow  him  much 
time  to  devote  to  society,  so  he  gave  his  wife  carte 
blanche,  which  she  used  to  good  advantage. 

Mrs.  Bernheim  was  a  worthy  helpmeet  for  such  a 
husband.  She  was  a  pronounced  type  of  a  Jewish 
beauty,  and,  in  addition,  she  was  lively,  vivacious, 
pleasant,  hospitable  and  fond  of  society.  Both  of  them 
were  lovers  of  art,  and  he  was  particularly  well  read, 
and  both  were  exceedingly  fond  of  the  drama.  He  de- 
lighted to  see  his  beautiful  mansion  thrown  open  to 
their  friends,  and  he  encouraged  his  wife  in  every  way, 
so  that  there  was  a  heartiness  about  their  hospitality 
that  added  zest  to  its  enjoyment.  Mrs.  Bernheim  was 
a  lover  of  literature,  and  the  literary  people  who  visited 
the  city  were  always  welcomed  to  her  home. 

She  was  the  soul  of  charity  and  this  she  extended 
with  a  bountiful  hand.  She  paid  the  rent  of  some,  she 
advanced  funds  to  others  to  embark  in  business.  She 
looked  after  the  sick,  she  sent  wine  and  fruit  to  the 
convalescent.  There  was  nothing  loud  about  this,  nor 
did  she  stop  to  inquire  into  creed  or  religion.  Every 
suffering  soul  received  her  kind  attention.  She  did 
not  content  herself  with  sending  out  money  lavishly. 
She  went  in  person,  and  her  carriage  was  as  often  at  the 
door  of  some  poor  family  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city 
as  it  was  before  some  fashionable  mansion  in  the 
aristocratic  part  of  the  town.     She  had  these  traits  by 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  105 

heredity.  Her  mother  was  widely  known  as  a  noble 
woman,  large-hearted  in  all  her  ideas,  and  her  daughter, 
with  greater  opportunities,  had  simply  carried  out  the 
mother's  impulses.  The  household  shared  this  feeling. 
The  children  took  up  the  work  laid  down,  and  the 
Bernheim  mansion  was  not  only  the  scene  of  joyous 
festivities,  but  of  pure  almsgiving,  based  upon  the  high- 
est conceptions — -that  of  rendering  the  objects  of  aid 
self-supporting.  It  was  thus  large-hearted,  but  dis- 
criminating and  just. 

Dr.  Cavallo  had  seen  her  work  among  the  poor  and 
had  attended  to  many  of  her  patients,  and  a  warm 
friendship  had  sprung  up  between  them. 

In  his  present  dilemma  he  could  think  of-  no  one 
who  could  or  would  assist  him  so  well  as  she.  So  he 
jumped  into  his  carriage  and  called  on  the  Bernheims. 
The  lady  received  him  with  a  smile.  "  I  have  just  re- 
turned from  the  East,  but  1  see  by  the  papers,  doctor, 
that  you  have  won  quite  a  reputation  since  I  have  been 
gone.  That  is  right.  I  have  always  said,  If  you  can't 
be  popular,  why,  be  notorious." 

"Not  so  bad  as  that,  I  hope,  Mrs.  Bernheim,"  he  re- 
plied, "  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  that  you  are  familiar 
with  this  errand  of  mine.  You  have  read  all  about  it?" 
"Oh,  yes,"  responded  she,  "I  know  all  about  it.  I 
know  Abbott,  too.  He  is  always  full  of  promises  but 
he  never  carries  them  out.  I  went  the  other  day  with 
Mrs.  Willits  to  get  subscriptions  for  the  Home  of  the 
Destitute  and  we  called  on  Abbott.  What  do  you 
think  he  gave  us,  doctor?  Why,  his  sympathy  and  a 
tract  showing  that  salvation  is  free,  and  that  the  poor 
could  become  self-sustaining,  only  by  leaning  on  the 
cross,  and  he  promised  that  he  would  send  his  pastor, 
Dr.  McHale,  around  to  preach  to  them." 


106  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Pleasantly  chatting,  she  invited  the  doctor  to  a  seat. 
He  said:  "You  know,  Mrs.  Bernheim,  that  I  can 
hardly  leave  my  office  at  this  time  of  day,  but  the  case 
is  pressing,  and  my  errand,  therefore  shall  be  briefly 
stated. 

"  I'm  all  attention,  doctor." 

"You  are  aware  of  the  necessities  of  those  people 
in  Abbott's  Row.  I  need  not  tell  you  what  a  nuis- 
ance and  menace  to  public  health  this  place  is.  Now 
it  has  to  come  down,  and  I  am  worried  to  know 
what  to  do  with  the  poor  people  when  forced  out  of 
their  homes,  if  we  can  allow  such  a  term  in  connection 
with  their  hovels.  Now,  Mrs.  Bernheim,  I  can 
provide  quarters  for  the  entire  thirty  families  for  sixty 
days.  They  can  be  put  in  the  barns  at  the  fair  grounds. 
Then  the  extreme  cold  weather  will  come  on  and  they 
will  have  to  move." 

"What  do  you  wish  me  to  do,  doctor?" 

41 1  have  roughly  sketched  out  a  plan  for  model 
dwelling  houses.  They  can  be  erected  in  rows  and  en- 
larged as  occasion  requires  by  simply  adding  to  them. 
At  present,  while  building,  we  can  provide  enough 
rooms  and  accommodations,  nicely  ventilated  and 
warmed,  for  seventy-five  families,  furnishing  them  with 
everything  necessary,  plenty  of  ground  for  the  children 
to  play,  plenty  of  fresh  air.  These  are  to  be  rented 
to  the  deserving  poor,  not  the  shiftless  and  the  lazy, 
still  the  rent  will  not  be  more  than  they  are  paying 
now  for  their  miserable  shanties.  Then  they  can  be  en- 
couraged to  buy  their  holdings  at  so  much  a  week  in 
payment.  In  short,  make  these  not  the  ordinary 
tenement  houses,  but  attractive  places,  with  trees  and 
shrubs.  Land  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  is  cheap, 
and  this  plan  can  be  easily  carried  out." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  107 

Her  black  eyes  sparkled.  "  Doctor,  doctor,  what  a 
romantic  scheme  !  You  wish  me  to  organize  a  colony 
and  become  its  queen.  I  should  be  the  Empress  of 
Cavalloville,  but  the  only  trouble  is,  that  it  will  take 
the  fortune  of  a  Rothschild.  I  suppose  that  we  shall 
need  a  synagogue,  a  church  and  a  chapel  to  minister 
to  their  spiritual  needs?" 

"Jesting  aside,  Mrs.  Bernheim,  I  am  in  earnest." 

"Gracious  alive!  where  do  you  expect  to  get  the 
money  from?  " 

"  Nothing  simpler  or  easier.  Roughly  calculating, 
the  whole  scheme  will  not  cost  so  much.  Land  can  be 
purchased  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  factories  for 
three  hundred  dollars  an  acre.  As  soon  as  these  houses 
are  built  the  street  car  line  will  build  an  extension  to 
them.  The  houses  can  be  put  up  for  five  hundred 
dollars  each.  This  gives  each  house  a  front  room, 
dining  room,  bed  room  and  kitchen,  with  pantry  on  the 
ground  floor,  small  cellar  below,  with  two  good  bed 
rooms  above.  We  will  start  in  with  thirty  houses  at 
first,  just  what  we  have  tenants  for.  Then  we  can  add 
to  it  with  the  exigencies  of  the  case.  Each  home  will 
have  its  own  coal  house  and  outhouse,  with  yard  room, 
cut  off  from  its  neighbor  by  a  fence,  a  good  supply  of 
water  from  the  waterworks,  and  a  sewer  under  the 
whole,  properly  trapped.1' 

She  laughed.  uWhat  a  contractor  you  would  make. 
Why  don't  you  go  into  the  building  business?1' 

"This  is  what  I  am  doing  right  now,  Mrs.  Bernheim. 
The  whole  scheme  will  not  cost  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  Now,  as  fast  as  the  houses  sell  on  these 
weekly  payments,  we  can  build  more  homes  and  make 
it  an  interest-paying  investment,  self-supporting,  and, 


108  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

at  the  same  time  educating  the  tenants  to  own  their 
own  fire-sides,  and  above  all,  this  takes  them  away  from 
the  slums  and  the  vice-breeding  sinks,  giving  the 
children  fresh  air  and  ground  to  play  on.  This  is  sys- 
tematic charity.     It  doesn't  pauperize." 

She  reflected.  "I  will  talk  it  over  with  Mr.  Bern- 
heim." 

This  was  just  what  Dr.  Cavallo  wanted,  and  he 
bowed  himself  out. 

That  night,  when  Mr.  Bernheim  came  home,  he  was 
in  unusually  good  spirits.  He  had  made  a  great  deal 
of  money  that  season  and  the  prospect  was  roseate 
for  the  future.  When  they  had  left  the  tea  table 
and  he  was  settled  in  the  drawing  room,  she  began, 
woman-like: 

"Henry,  you  know  you  promised  to  buy  me  that 
diamond  necklace  that  we  saw  in  New  York,  for  a 
present  on  my  birthday.1' 

"Yes,"  he  responded,  "do  you  want  it  now?" 

"No,  but  I  wish  to  know  what  it  will  cost." 

"Never  look  a  gift  horse  in  the  mouth,  my  dear." 

11  But  I  wish  to  know  the  cost  for  a  very  particular 
reason." 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "the  price  is  twenty  thousand 
dollars." 

"  I  want  that  money  for  a  different  purpose.  I  have 
jewels  enough  now." 

So  she  took  her  pen  and  paper  and  began  with  the 
figures  that  the  doctor  had  given  her.  Her  husband 
listened  at  first  with  indifference,  then  he  took  a  lan- 
guid interest,  then  he  sat  upright,  and  taking  out  his 
pencil,  said  : 

"After  all  it  isn't  a  bad  investment.     That  property 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  IO9 

will  double  in  value  as  soon  as  the  street  cars  are  built 
to  it,  and  the  factories  will  always  give  desirable  ten- 
ants. The  result,  my  dear,  will  be  this :  The  sober 
and  industrious  will  go  in  and  buy  the  property  on 
those  terms,  and  then  where  will  your  charity  be?" 

uThis  is  just  the  purpose  of  the  plan,  to  make  people 
sober  and  industrious.  Charity  consists,  as  you  always 
preach,  not  in  giving  people  something  that  they  do 
not  earn,  that  makes  paupers  of  them,  but  in  showing 
them  how  they  can  earn  what  they  need." 

"Take  the  case  of  the  O'Haras,"  Mr.  Bernheim 
added.  "You  can  never  do  anything  with  Mike 
O'Hara.     He  is  a  natural  born  thug  and  bum." 

11  His  two  sisters  will  work  in  the  factories  and  the 
old  man  can  get  a  job  as  watchman,  so  that  the  rest  of 
the  family  will  be  saved,  even  if  the  boy  does  go  wrong 
and  grows  up  worthless.  As  it  is,  the  whole  of  them 
will,  under  their  present  conditions,  be  paupers  or 
worse." 

They  discussed  the  matter  in  its  varied  bearings,  and 
the  next  morning  she  reminded  him  of  it. 

He  took  the  idea  down  town  with  him  and  it  so 
happened  that  his  architect  dropped  in  to  consider  an 
extension  to  one  of  his  mills.  After  the  architect  had 
finished  the  work,  Mr.  Bernheim  spoke  to  him  in  re- 
gard to  the  project  that  he  had  in  mind.  The  other 
agreed  to  sketch  out  something  of  the  sort  and  the  up- 
shot was  that  finally  Mr.  Bernheim  got  a  plan  to  his 
liking,  although  the  cost  was  a  little  more  than  the  doc- 
tor had  figured. 

Little  by  little  the  project  grew,  and  at  last  the 
ground  was  purchased  and  the  contract  was  let.  Mrs. 
Bernheim  was  greatly  delighted,  and  before  the  houses 


110  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

were  erected  she  had,  with  the  doctor's  advice  and 
counsel,  selected  the  tenants. 

This  was  not  difficult  to  do.  The  idle  and  lazy  would 
not  stir.  They  clung  to  the  slums  and  slouched  off 
into  tumble-down  places  near  the  river  bank,  for  this 
class  of  people,  like  vermin,  hate  the  light  of  day  and 
seek  concealment.  Pat  O'Hara,  with  his  wife  and 
family,  were  the  first  to  move.  And,  as  they  put  their 
humble  furniture  into  the  new  edifice,  Pat  was  as  happy 
as  a  king.  He  went  down  to  Dr.  Cavallo's  office  and 
there  ran  across  Timothy  Dodd. 

He  astonished  that  worthy  by  paying  so  flattering  a 
tribute  to  the  doctor  that  even  Timothy's  grandilo- 
quent and  flowing  phrase  was  silenced. 

"He  was  that  deloighted,"  said  Tim,  "  ef  the  angel 
Gabriel  had  kem  in  that  minit  Pat  wud  hev  made  him 
gev  up  his  horn  and  turn  it  over  to  Cavallo  as  the  best 
entitled  to  it  in  pint  of  merit,  jist." 


CHAPTER  XV. 


If  Dr.  Cavallo  had  been  a  vain  man  or  one  easily 
elated  by  flattery,  he  would  have  had  his  head  turned, 
for  he  was  overwhelmed  with  praise.  He  knew,  how- 
ever, how  unmeaning  are  the  compliments  that  are 
showered  upon  anyone  who,  for  the  moment,  has  at- 
tracted public  attention.  He  pursued  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way,  only  responding  courteously  to  those  who 
met  him  and  shook  him  by  the  hand,  asserting  that  his 
victory  over  Abbott  was  the  best  thing  that  had  occur- 
red in  the  history  of  the  city. 

He  knew  that  he  had  a  foe  in  the  old  man  whose 
hate  was  unrelenting,  and  who  would  follow  him  in 
every  line  that  he  undertook  with  the  malignity  of  the 
wolf. 

Nevertheless,  he  felt  he  was  so  greatly  in  the  right, 
that  he  scorned  Abbott  and  his  threats.  As  for  those 
who  followed  in  Abbott's  wake,  the  most  that  they 
could  do  would  be  to  sneer.  He  was  walking  along  the 
street  considering  the  matter,  and  turning  the  whole 
question  over  in  his  mind,  when  he  saw  Miss  Lawrence 
before  him,  he  quickened  his  steps,  and  overtaking 
her,  courteously  greeted  her. 

She  smiled  as  she  met  him,  and  they  walked  on  to- 
gether. What  was  the  burden  of  their  discourse  ?  Let 
every  reader  of  this  tale  himself  answer  the  question. 


112  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

What  do  youth  and  beauty  always  talk  about  ?  The 
lisping  language  of  love  is  enchanting  enough  to  us 
when  we  are  at  the  other  end  of  love's  telephone,  but 
it  is  stale,  flat  and  unprofitable  to  the  hearer.  What  is 
a  more  beautiful  sight  than  a  mother  crooning  to  her 
babe  ?  What  is  more  absurd  than  a  translation  of  her 
words  when  depicted  in  cold  type?  Cavallo  was  a  man 
who  had  seen  much  and  had  reflected  deeply,  but  he 
was  no  more  exempt  from  an  invasion  of  the  affections, 
if  we  may  so  call  it,  than  you  would  be  in  his  place. 

All  the  world  loves  a  lover,  and  all  the  world  laughs 
at  him  just  the  same. 

What  is  more  simple,  to  carry  out  the  parallel  farther, 
than  to  sit  and  listen  to  one  side  of  a  conversation.  To 
hear  one  over  the  telephone  say,  "Yes."  "  No,  I 
think  not."  "  Not  at  all."  "You  won't."  So,  in  lis- 
tening to  the  conversation  of  lovers,  the  bystander  only 
gets  half  of  it.  He  misses  the  inflections  and  the  im- 
plications that  are  the  missing  links,  and  that  make  the 
conversation  not  only  intelligible,  but  interesting  to  the 
other  party. 

Cavallo  told  her  the  story  of  little  Daisy  Dayton,  for 
one  thing,  and  how  he  had  seen  the  poor  mother 
buried,  and  had  provided  a  home  for  the  little 
girl.  The  recital  brought  the  tears  to  Margaret's 
eyes,  for  she  was  sympathetic,  and  she  remembered 
when  Mrs.  Dayton  had  first  come  to  the  city,  a  blush- 
ing bride,  and  when  the  unhappy  wreck  that  now  shuf- 
fled along  the  street  was  one  of  the  best  known  men  in 
the  city. 

They  talked  of  art  and  literature,  and  of  everything 
but  themselves,  and  yet  the  under  current,  the  secret 
sympathy,  that  ran  through  their  talk,  gave  to  it  that 
interest  that  added  weight  to  their  words. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  113 

Inasmuch  as  every  reader  of  this  story  will  have  an 
experience  of  his  own  to  fall  back  upon,  and  can  recall 
dozens  of  times  when  he  was  in  this  same  state,  walk- 
ing with  the  girl  he  loved,  it  seems  needless  to  try  to 
point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale  with  the  conversation 
between  this  couple.  The  doctor  had  a  set  purpose  in 
life,  and  he  had  received  from  this  girl  a  strong  im- 
pulse to  shape  his  career  along  the  line  that  he  was 
pursuing.  Whether  she  was  actuated  by  any  stronger 
motive  than  a  desire  to  see  him  grandly  heroic,  he  did 
not  know.  He  felt  sometimes  that  the  interest  she 
manifested  in  him  was  purely  sympathetic.  While  she 
might  regard  his  race  with  admiration  from  a  historical 
point  of  view,  would  she  care  enough  for  the  individual 
to  sink  the  question  of  race  ? 

This  puzzled  him,  but  he  was  very  happy  as  it  was. 
To  listen  to  her  praise  as  they  walked,  as  she  told  him 
how  she  admired  his  conduct  in  the  late  affair  with 
Abbott,  was  pleasure  enough,  and  he  took  delight  in  it. 

It  soothed  him,  annoyed  as  he  had  been  with  the 
strain  of  the  last  few  days'  contest.  He  felt  that  here 
he  was  appreciated,  and  if  it  led  to  nothing  else,  he 
would  enjoy  this  to  the  full.  So  he  walked  on  by  her 
side,  feeling  refreshed  in  the  pleasant  autumn  air,  in  the 
cool  breeze,  in  the  presence  of  Margaret  ;  the  very 
rustle  of  her  dress,  the  soft  tones  of  her  voice,  gave 
him  a  sense  of  exquisite  pleasure.  He  responded  to 
her  sweet  and  gentle  influence,  and  his  soul  was  soothed 
and  calmed. 

From  this  he  was  rudely  awakened,  for,  as  they  came 
to  the  crossing  of  a  street  they  were  joined  by  Seidel. 
That  individual  was  in  the  highest  spirits.  He  joked 
them  both  with  his  good  natured  badinage,  addressed 


114  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Miss  Lawrence  with  easy  familiarity,  once  even  calling 
her  Margaret,  at  which  Cavallo  winced.  He  had  the 
easy  swing  of  audacity  and  gave  his  tongue  full  vent. 
While  it  seemed  to  Cavallo  to  be  the  perfection  of 
friendly  talk,  there  was  a  subtle  undercurrent  of  sar- 
casm, a  finely  disguised  effort  to  belittle  him.  He  dis- 
puted some  of  Cavallo's  remarks  with  grace,  yet  with 
an  air  of  superiority  that  nettled  the  doctor,  but  it  was 
done  so  deftly  that  he  could  not  take  umbrage  at  it.  He 
brought  up  something  that  happened  at  college  and  as- 
sumed that  Cavallo  was  in  some  of  the  students'  esca- 
pades. There  was  nothing  bad  in  it  and  nothing  to 
which  one  could  seriously  object,  but  the  intention 
seemed  to  be  to  show  Margaret  that  Cavallo  was  act- 
ing a  part, —  that  he  had  led  elsewhere  a  different  life. 

Cavallo  returned  short  answers  to  this  badinage, 
whereupon  Seidel  would  beg  his  pardon,  telling  Miss 
Lawrence  not  to  mind  his  talk,  that  he  would  be  the 
last  one  in  the  world  to  reveal  things  that  had  been 
done  in  moments  of  youthful  indiscretion.  Then  he 
would  end  in  a  hearty  laugh,  that,  while  it  was  insin- 
cere and  metallic,  a  laugh  peculiar  to  Seidel,  yet  it 
served  his  purpose  in  making  him  pass  for  the  mo- 
ment as  a  good  fellow  who  only  saw  the  ridiculous 
side  of  life  and  meant  to  get  all  the  enjoyment  out 
of  the  world  that  he  could. 

He  openly,  before  Cavallo's  face,  paid  Margaret  the 
little  gallant  attentions  that  beauty  demands  and  re- 
ceives from  her  admirers  without  a  thought  other  than 
that  they  are  her  due,  for  she  has  always  received  them. 
Cavallo  shrank  from  this  exhibition  and  it  seemed  to 
him  profanation  for  Seidel  to  venture  upon  little  famil- 
iarities on  the  street,  which,  innocent  enough,  he  himself 


DOCTOR    CWALLO  115 

would  never  have  thought  of  offering.  He  walked  along 
silently  listening  to  the  conversation  between  Margaret 
and  Seidel,  for  she,  noticing  Cavallo's  manner,  strove 
to  hide  it  from  the  other  as  much  as  she  could,  and  she 
laughingly  parried  Seidel's  remarks  and  rounded  off 
the  shafts  of  his  wit  with  brilliant  repartee.  This  only 
aroused  Seidel  to  more  effort,  and  he  rattled  on  in  a 
stream  of  mocking  satire  and  fun,  even  sometimes  ma- 
liciously put,  until  they  came  to  the  Lawrence  home, 
when  he  escorted  her  into  the  house,  for  he  was  still 
stopping  with  Bob. 

The  doctor  bowed  and  parted  with  them,  but  he 
thought  he  detected  a  triumphant  smile  in  Seidel's  face 
that  sent  the  blood  to  his  own  brow,  and  he  turned 
back  and  sought  the  security  of  his  own  office.  He 
was  provoked.  He  felt  that  in  the  battle  between  him- 
self and  Seidel  that  had  just  passed,  he  had  been 
worsted  and  humiliated  in  the  eyes  of  the  one  he 
loved.  He  instinctively  discerned  that  he  was  to  have 
a  rival  in  this  brilliant  young  fellow,  this  man  who 
posed  at  one  moment  as  a  man  of  business  and  the 
next  as  a  shrewd  student,  and  perhaps  again  as  a 
thorough  man  of  the  world.  What  chance  did  he  have 
against  this  trained  athlete,  so  to  speak,  in  all  matters  of 
society,  against  one  who  knew  all  the  avenues  to  a 
woman's  heart,  and  who  practiced  upon  the  affections 
of  the  young  maiden  with  the  experience  of  a  veteran, 
not  hampered  by  any  consideration  of  love.  Seidel  had 
no  feeling  that  it  was  descecration  to  approach  Miss 
Lawrence.  To  him  she  was  simply  a  good  alliance.  If 
he  married  her,  and  the  doctor  winced  again  at  the 
thought,  it  would  enable  him  to  use  the  Lawrences  to 
further  his  schemes.     All  of  these  things  made  the  doc- 


Il6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

tor  ill  at  ease.  He  tried  to  read,  and  pored  over  a  vol- 
ume in  which  was  a  case  that  he  wished  to  study,  but 
he  found  that  he  had  lost  interest  in  the  matter,  and 
after  reading  one  page  over  two  or  three  times,  he 
closed  the  book  and  went  out  of  doors. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


When  the  intelligence  was  noised  about  that  Ab- 
bott's Row  had  been  condemned  and  the  order  given 
to  demolish  it,  it  created  a  stir  in  the  community. 
Abbott  had  defied  public  sentiment  so  long  in  this 
matter  that  the  gratification  that  he  had  been  worsted 
was  general  and  widespread. 

The  editor  of  the  German  paper  was  a  man  of  broad 
sympathy  and  generous  impulses.  He  had  a  profound 
contempt  for  hypocrisy  in  any  shape.  Herr  Muller 
rather  fancied  impaling  fellows  of  this  sort  on  his  pen, 
and  he  had  gathered  around  him  quite  a  following. 
His  German  subscribers  believed  in  him  and  loyally 
supported  him.  He  was  an  authority  on  art,  and  on 
music,  for  he  was  himself  a  fine  singer.  He  was  a  ready 
and  eloquent  speaker,  and  he  had  recently  delivered 
an  address  at  the  grave  of  a  fellow  comrade  that  was 
the  talk  of  the  city.  He  was  sympathetic  as  a 
woman,  yet  sturdy  as  a  lion,  detesting  shams  of  all 
sorts,  and  fighting  them  with  all  his  power  and  vigor. 

He  had  many  a  time  called  the  attention  of  the  pub- 
lic to  the  nuisance  of  Abbott's  Row,  but  he  had  failed 
to  remove  it.  He  now  came  out  and,  in  a  glowing 
article,  recounted  the  work  that  Cavallo  had  wrought, 
and  by  way  of  giving  Abbott  a  further  stab,  said  that 


Il8  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

this  great  reform  had  been  achieved  in  spite  of  Christian 
influence  by  a  Jew. 

The  publication  of  this  in  Herr  Muller's  paper 
created  an  intense  sensation.  The  next  morning  a 
number  of  influential  citizens  called  to  congratulate  the 
doctor.  Many  of  these  had  signed  his  petition.  Prom- 
inent among  them  was  Mr.  Aaron  Tobias.  This  gen- 
tleman had  been  connected  with  the  fortunes  of  the 
city  for  over  thirty  years.  He  was  an  active,  genial, 
public  spirited  man.  He  was  placed  on  every  com- 
mittee and  at  the  head  of  every  movement  for  the 
benefit  of  the  city.  He  held  advanced  ideas  on  all 
social  and  religious  questions,  and  was  withal  gen- 
erous and  hospitable.  Now  he  was  effusive.  He  did 
not,  before  he  read  it  in  Herr  Muller's  paper,  suspect 
that  Dr.  Cavallo  belonged  to  his  race,  and  the  thought 
that  a  work  that  every  one  else  had  failed  in  had  been 
wrought  by  one  of  his  own  people  so  pleased  him  that 
he  ran  over  with  feeling. 

His  evident  delight  touched  the  doctor  himself  and, 
he  responded  to  the  compliments  of  his  new  friend 
with  some  warmth.  This  gratified  Mr.  Tobias  still 
more,  and  he  went  off  and  brought  back  Mr.  Philip 
Herman  whom  he  introduced  as  president  of  the  con- 
gregation. Mr.  Herman  was  a  good  man.  This  was  felt 
in  the  grasp  of  his  hand,  in  the  tone  of  his  voice,  and 
in  the  benevolent  aspect  of  his  face.  They  talked  of 
different  matters,  and  the  interview  ended  by  Mr.  Tobias 
arranging  a  dinner  party  at  his  house  for  the  next 
Sunday  at  which  he  invited  the  doctor  to   be  present. 

The  latter  pleaded  his  profession,  which  made  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  for  him  to  promise  to  attend  a  social 
gathering,  but  Mr.  Tobias  would  not   take  '  no,'   and 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  I I 9 

ended  by  obtaining  the  doctor's  consent,  no  intervening 
circumstance  preventing,  to  be  present,  and  the  two 
gentlemen  took  their  leave  highly  gratified. 

As  the  days  went  by,  Dr.  Cavallo  found  no  reason 
why  he  should  not  fulfill  his  engagement,  and 
Sunday  found  him  walking  up  the  steps  of  the  Nus- 
man  residence. 

Home  is  always  a  delight  to  the  Jew.  The  family 
and  the  household  are  very  dear  to  him,  and  these 
have  interwoven  all  the  little  ties  that  bind  the  mem- 
bers together,  and  act  upon  the  Jews  with  tenfold 
force  because  of  their  isolation. 

Mr.  Tobias  and  his  wife  were  never  so  happy  as 
when  dispensing  hospitality,  and  the  dinner  was  a  great 
success.  Mr.  Herman  and  his  wife  were  there  and  the 
conversation  ran  upon  religious  matters. 

The  doctor  was  introduced  to  the  rabbi  and  was  de- 
lighted with  him.  He  found  that  he  was  a  learned  man, 
not  only  in  his  specialty,  Hebrew  literature,  but  in 
various  other  branches,  and  with  it  all  he  possessed  the 
modesty  that  distinguishes  the  true  student  from  the 
pretender.  The  rabbi  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of  keeping 
the  congregation  together  when  such  diverse  ideas  pre- 
vailed, and  added  that  the  true  reason  is,  beeause  the 
thinkers,  the  men  of  advanced  ideas,  do  not  affiliate  with 
the  congregation.  They  drift  away  and  may  often  be 
found  scoffing  at  a  state  of  things  which  they  might 
remedy  if  they  would  but  exert  their  influence  and  throw 
their  efforts  into  the  scale.  Dr.  Cavallo  reflected.  His 
promise  to  his  uncle  came  up  before  him.  Perhaps  he 
was  taking  this  very  position.  It  was  not  by  sneering 
at  them,  but  by  leading  them,  that  Moses  brought  his 
people  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.     Suppose  the  great 


120  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

prophet  had  stood  afar  off,  satisfied  with  having  mas- 
tered all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  what  would 
have  been  the  result  to  his  race? 

Then  Margaret's  words  of  inspiration  rose  up  before 
him. 

He  said  :  rt  Perhaps  we  are  in  fault  in  this  matter.  I 
feel  that  I  have  been  derelict  myself.  I  think  that  I  will 
join  your  congregation." 

The  eyes  of  Mr.  Herman  shone  with  pleasure.  "  I 
shall  take  pride  in  presenting  your  name,"  he  said. 

Cavallo's  mind  was  now  made  up.  He  had  taken  the 
last  step  that  was  lacking  to  identify  himself  with  his 
people,  and  he  had  done  this  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
girl  he  loved.  If  she  wedded  another,  if  this  should 
be  an  additional  barrier  between  them,  he  had,  at  least, 
been  true  to  the  purpose  which  he  had  chosen  as 
the  guiding  impulse  of  his  life.  He  felt  all  the  better 
for  having  made  his  choice,  and  he  took  part  in  the 
conversation,  feeling  that  he  was  one  of  the  little 
group. 

The  rabbi,  too,  felt  strengthened  by  the  accession. 
He  was  a  very  treasure  house  of  fancy,  and  he  gave  se- 
lections from  the  Midrash,  little  fables,  and  touching 
stories  of  love  and  suffering,  all  pointing  a  moral,  or 
conveying  between  the  lines  some  great  truth. 

The  Midrash  is  filled  with  this  delicate  poetry,  the 
garnered  wisdom  of  centuries  of  thought  and  study. 
It  is  as  yet,  to  the  Christian,  an  unexplored  region, 
and  as  the  rabbi  unfolded  it  and  dwelt  upon  what  it 
taught,  the  doctor  was  astonished  to  find  how  deeply 
those  old  Hebrew  seers  had  pondered  upon  that  Provi- 
dence that  guides  the  actions  of  men,  and,  at  a  time 
when  the  rest  of  the  world  was  wrapped  in  the  dark- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  121 

ness  of  barbarism,  they  had  demonstrated  the  principles 
of  eternal  justice,  and  embalmed  them  in  these  little 
parables  for  the  benefit  of  posterity. 

He  was  delighted  that  the  rabbi  stood  on  this  high 
plane.  It  was  a  solace  to  find  that  he  had  gone  over 
the  same  ground  that  he  himself  had  traveled,  and 
had  arrived  at  the  same  conclusions. 

Tobias,  too,  surprised  him,  for  he  found  that  he  pos- 
sessed fine  literary  taste,  and  was  a  man  cultured  in  his 
manners  and  refined  in  his  ideas.  As  for  Herman,  no 
one  could  be  in  his  society  long  without  feeling  that  in 
the  affections,  in  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  soul,  the 
old  man  was  fully  entitled  to  the  respect  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  community. 

When  the  doctor  had  left  the  house  and  was  on  his 
way  to  the  office,  he  thought  that  there  was  little  sense 
or  reason  for  any  Jew  to  be  ashamed  of  his  people. 
"Here,"  he  said  to  himself,  "are  three  men  that  in  in- 
tellect, in  culture,  in  the  higher  qualities  that  adorn  the 
character  and  give  standing  to  a  community,  are  fitted 
to  take  their  place  with  the  best."  The  thought  gave 
him  real  pleasure.  His  task  would  not  be  so  hard 
after  all. 

The  main  trouble,  he  mused,  lies  in  their  isolation. 
What  should  be  done  by  this  people  is  to  affiliate  with 
their  neighbors  ;  to  take  an  active  interest  in  affairs  ; 
to  take  hold  of  the  questions  of  the  day  ;  to  show  that 
they  are  Americans,  citizens  of  the  great  republic, 
and  not  caring  for  anything  beyond.  "The  reproach 
against  us,"  he  said,  "is  that  we  wish  to  return  to  Jeru- 
salem, when  this  is  as  absurd  a  proposition  as  if  it  were 
said  that  we  wish  to  go  back  to  Egypt.  The  Jew  is  a 
Jew  because  of  his  religion,  not  because  of  his  country. 


122  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

His  native  land  is  here,  and  there  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent him  from  being  the  very  highest  type  of  an 
American   citizen." 

He  began  to  speculate  upon  the  best  way  to  bring 
out  his  idea,  and  to  elevate  his  people  along  this  line. 
It  was  evident  that  it  could  not  be  done  simply  by 
making  distinctively  Jewish  societies,  but  by  encourag- 
ing the  young  men  to  mingle  with  their  neighbors. 

In  short,  he  thought,  we  must  make  the  Jew  take  the 
same  plane  as  any  other  religious  body,  convincing  the 
public  that  it  is  a  religion  with  him  and  not  a  nation- 
ality. We  do  not  continually  throw  up  to  a  man  that 
he  is  a  Methodist  or  Baptist.  The  second  gener- 
ation that  is  coming  up  must  be  Americans  by  birth  and 
Jews  in  religion,  because  this  embodies  the  grandest 
ideas  of  God  and  the  most  enlarged  type  of  humanity. 

He  f  jit  under  this  new  light  that  he  could  go  to  the 
synagogue  and  take  part  in  the  service,  seeing  in  the 
old  ceremonies  only  the  fossil  roots  of  things  that  once 
had  a  vital  meaning,  rescuing  the  people  from  idolatry, 
but  which  now  are  only  the  reminder  of  past  and 
and  buried  regulations. 

He  felt  that  this  was  the  plane  on  which  the  rabbi 
stood,  and  that  on  this  platform  he  could  meet  both 
Tobias  and  Herman. 

14  Observances,"  he  soliloquized,  4t  appeal  strongly  to 
some  minds.  Look  how  Masonry  has,  by  its  fidelity 
to  certain  sentiments,  maintained  it's  place  in  the  world 
and  is  still  a  moving  force  bound  together  because  it 
offers  the  largest  expression  of  human  brotherhood." 

The  more  he  pondered  upon  this  subject  the  stronger 
he  grew  in  his  feeling  that  here  was  the  work  laid  out 
for  him.     He  felt   that  he  could  show  Margaret  that 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 23 

along  this  line  his  career  lay,   and  to  develop  it  must 
be  the  purpose  of  his  life. 

To  be  a  Jew,  in  this  large  conception,  was  to  be  the 
pioneer  of  advanced  thought  and  the  prophet  of  a 
larger  life  and  more  glorious  hope. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


The  weeks  drifted  by  with  little  incident.  Dr.  Cav- 
allo  had  gone  on  his  way  unostentatiously,  but  he  felt 
that  his  influence  was  extending.  His  practice  had 
enormously  increased.  The  poorer  classes  looked 
upon  him  with  affection.  Abbott  still  nourished  his 
hatred  and  showed  it  even  when  they  passed  on  the 
street.  Bob  broke  the  monotony  of  the  doctor's  hum- 
drum life  by  now  and  then  dropping  in  on  him  and 
talking  metaphysics,  science,  religion,  politics,  and 
lastly,  mining,  for  by  this  time  his  head  began  to  be 
611ed  with  mining  schemes.  Seidel  was  at  times  effu- 
sive, and  at  times  distant.  He  was  paying  open  atten- 
tion to  Miss  Lawrence,  and  people  began  to  whisper 
that  he  meant  something  more  than  the  attentions  of  a 
friend.     He  accompanied  her  everywhere. 

Timothy  Dodd  had  wholly  overcome  his  prejudice 
against  the  Jews  and  had  taken  a  warm  interest  in 
the  cottages  of  Mrs.  Bernheim,  but  this  grew  more  out 
of  his  attachment  to  the  elder  O'Hara  girl  than  from 
any  other  motive.  He  spent  many  an  hour  at  the 
cottage  arguing  with  Pat  on  the  "  essentials,  the  cor- 
porosities  and  the  perdicaments."" 

Between  his  work  at  the  factories  as  watchman  and 
arguing  with  Timothy,  Pat  expended  the  rest  of  his 
time  in  scoring  M  Moike"  for  his  worthlessness  in  join- 
ing the  Ham  Heads  and  studying  "  divilment." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I 25 

41  That  dom'd  by'e,"  he  said,  "  would  rayther  be  rush- 
in'  the  growler  than  ingaged  in  an  honest  occypay- 
shun." 

The  doctor  went  to  the  synagogue,  for  Messrs.  Tobias 
and  Herman  dropped  in  on  him  one  Friday  even- 
ing, saying  that  the  rabbi  would  speak  on  an  important 
subject  that  night,  and  since  the  doctor  was  already  a 
member  of  the  congregation  they  would  feel  happy  in 
having  him  accompany  them,  which  he  did. 

The  rabbi  spoke  on  "  The  Inspiration  of  the  Penta- 
teuch." After  paying  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  ethics 
and  moral  precepts  scattered  throughout  its  pages,  and 
after  showing  the  amount  of  good  those  teachings  have 
accomplished  in  the  upbuilding  of  civilization,  he  cau- 
tiously, yet  with  scientific  accuracy,  showed  the  com- 
posite structure  of  that  book.  He  brought  out  the 
fact,  which  must  have  been  startlingly  new  to  most  of 
his  hearers,  that  many  of  the  events  ascribed  to  Moses 
never  could  have  been  written  by  him,  since  they  refer 
to  a  period  long  after  his  time.  An  inspired  book, 
the  rabbi  said,  must  be  historically,  geographically  and 
scientifically  true  in  its  every  detail,  and  here  citing 
contradictory  passages,  and  glaring  anachronisms,  he 
conclusively  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  thinking 
portion  of  the  congregation  that  the  entire  Pentateuch 
could  not  have  been  the  work  of  inspiration. 

Withal  he  presented  a  platform  broad  enough  for  all 
mankind.  This  was  a  new  departure  to  most  of  the 
rabbi's  flock,  who  were  accustomed  to  regard  the 
Pentateuch  as  divinely  revealed.  Dr.  Cavallo  listened 
with  interest.  It  was  in  harmony  with  his  own  thoughts, 
but  he  had  no  idea  that  he  should  find  such  opinions 
boldly  proclaimed  from  a  Jewish  pulpit. 


126  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Dr.  Cavallo  had  been  a  close  student  in  his  reading, 
and  had  kept  in  touch  with  the  reform  movement,  but 
years  had  passed  since  he  had  been  inside  of  a  syna- 
gogue, and  his  chief  recollections  were  those  of  his  boy- 
hood, when  he  was  sent  to  an  ultra-orthodox  one  where 
the  men  and  women  were  separated  and  the  women 
were  screened  from  the  men.  The  men  were  wrapped 
in  woolen  and  silken  praying  scarfs.  Services  were 
conducted  exclusively  in  Hebrew,  many  of  the  prayers 
were  shouted  without  any  regard  for  rhythm,  melody 
or  harmony.  The  minister  would  once  in  two  months, 
seldom  oftener,  deliver  a  sermon  which  acted  as 
a  perfect  soporific.  It  was  filled  with  quotations 
from  the  Talmud  and  commentaries  and  dealt  largely 
with  dietary  laws,  ritualistic  observances  and  ceremo- 
nial rites. 

Here  the  scene  was  entirely  different.  The  families 
sat  together.  The  praying  scarfs  had  been  laid  aside. 
The  men  sat  with  uncovered  heads.  The  noise  gave 
way  to  decorum  and  devotion.  The  prayer  book, 
while  by  no  means  modern  enough  to  suit  him  and 
his  views,  was  hundreds  of  years  in  advance  of  the 
old  ritual.  The  music  was  melodiously  intoned  by 
a  cultured  choir,  most  of  whom  were  Gentiles,  but 
recognized  masters  of  their  art  in  the  community. 
That  which  pleased  him  most  was  the  large  num- 
ber of  Christians,  of  both  sexes,  who  listened  atten- 
tively to  the  discourse  of  the  rabbi.  On  the  whole  he 
felt  glad  and  pleased.  He  said  to  himself,  "I  will 
come  oftener."  The  two  gentlemen  who  accompanied 
him  were  more  than  recompensed  when,  at  the  close 
of  the  service,  Cavallo  frankly  gave  them  his  views 
and  the  pleasing  impressions  that  he  had  gained.     He 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 27 

also  interchanged  ideas  on  sociology  and  religion  with 
the  rabbi.  He  became  more  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  he  had  been  passive  these  years,  while  Judaism 
was  actively  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Renaissance. 

A  strong  attachment  grew  up  between  himself  and 
the  rabbi,  for  he  found  him  pleasant  and  congenial. 

One  day,  after  Cavallo's  usual  round  of  visits,  he 
sat  down  with  a  feeling  that  he  had  earned  a  little 
time  for  himself.  He  recalled  the  look  that  Seidel 
had  given  him  when  they  last  parted.  Then  he  thought 
of  Margaret  and  he  felt  that  he  ought  to  call  on  the 
Lawrences.  Then  the  picture  of  Abbott  came  up  be- 
fore him  and  the  bitter  hate  that  the  old  man  cherished 
for  him,  and  the  pen  picture  of  old  Trapbois  in  Scott's 
portrait  of  the  miser  in  uThe  Fortunes  of  Nigel,"  came 
into  his  mind.  He  was  in  this  state  of  reverie  when 
the  door  opened  and  the  rabbi  came  in.  His  arrival 
was  opportune,  for  Cavallo  wanted  some  one  to  talk  to 
and  the  rabbi  was  just  the  one  whose  conversation  gave 
him  relief. 

Cavallo  told  him  that  he  was  sorry  that  he  could  not 
hear  him  last  Friday  night,  but  there  were  some  points 
in  his  published  address  that  met  with  his  hearty  ap- 
proval. The  subject  was,  "The  Brotherhood  of  Reli- 
gions," in  which  the  rabbi  had  taken  the  ground  that 
the  elements  of  truth  are  contained  in  all  beliefs,  and 
that  no  one  religion  can  claim  a  monopoly  of  the  truth. 
That  all  religions  have  more  or  less  the  essence  of  re- 
velation. With  all  of  this  the  doctor,  being  in  close 
sympathy,  expressed  his  hearty  concurrence. 

41  Your  sermons,  as  far  as  I  have  heard  and  read  them, 
hardly  harmonize  with  your  ritual.  In  your  ritual  you 
are   exclusive,  while  your  addresses  are  inclusive.      I 


128  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

have  been  estranged  from  the  synagogue  some  years 
and  ought  to  be  the  last  to  cast  the  first  stone,  yet  per- 
mit me  to  remark  that  the  English  translation  of  some 
of  the  prayers  is  strained  and  the  prayers,  too,  smack 
of  medevial  and  oriental  notions." 

"My  dear  doctor,"  replied  the  rabbi,  "  I  fully  agree 
with  you.  No  one  realizes  the  situation,  the  glaring 
inaccuracies,  the  unpresentable  methods  which  most 
congregations  struggle  under  more  than  do  I.  Full  well 
do  I  know  that  our  prayer  book  was  mostly  composed  in 
an  age  of  wailing  and  tears,  and  is  not  apt  to  be  strik- 
ingly inviting,  nor  fit  the  changed  condition  of  the 
times.  But  you  must  not  forget  that  it  is  yet  within  the 
recollection  of  many  when  the  word  reform  was  the 
scare  crow  and  bug  bear  of  all  of  the  congregations. 
Now  see  how  vast  have  been  our  improvement  in  this 
direction.  You  and  I  no  longer  could  be  induced  to 
follow  the  methods  that  were  in  vogue  when  we  were 
lads.  So  you  see,  little  by  little  the  spirit  of  the  age 
broadens  the  horizon  of  the  Jew. 

"It  seems  to  me,"  remarked  Cavallo,  "  that  from 
what  I  have  seen  of  your  members  you  will  have 
very  few  obstacles  placed  in  your  way  in  furthering 
these  advanced  views." 

The  rabbi  smiled  significantly.  "It  is  true,  doctor, 
that  most  of  my  congregation  are  honest,  sincere,  good- 
natured,  and  some  of  them  are  even  thinkers.  The  latter 
stand  with  their  faces  toward  the  sun.  While  born  in 
the  orthodox  faith,  they  have  long  since  left  the 
wilderness,  and  are  ready,  as  it  were,  to  cross 
the  Jordan,  but  like  all  communities  there  are  some 
who  are  stumbling  blocks.  We  have  factions  here, 
a  few    that     are    self-assertive,     opinionated,    wrong 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  120, 

headed,  and  conservative,  but  these  men  wield  a  con- 
siderable influence  in  the  community,  and  rather 
than  quarrel  with  them  they  are  allowed  to  crush 
almost  every  proposition  that  would  benefit  the  cause. 
It  isn't  that  they  mean  to  do  it,  for  I  believe  that  they 
are,  in  their  own  way,  somewhat  conscientious,  but  the 
fact  remains,  all  the  same.  At  congregational  meet- 
ings they  make  it  so  intolerably  unpleasant  for  the  ad- 
vanced element  that  the  latter  frequently  remain  away, 
so  that  the  others  have  the  field  all  to  themselves. 
What  this  congregation  most  sadly  needs  is  leader- 
ship:" 

"This  is  discouraging,"  sympathized  Cavallo,  "for 
there  is  a  great  possibility  in  this  very  community  of 
building  up  a  religious  sentiment." 

"That's  it,"  replied  the  rabbi,  "I  know  this  to  be  a 
fact  and,  without  a  tinge  of  egotism,  I  feel  this  to  be 
my  mission.  I  am  endeavoring,  all  that  I  can  in  an 
humble  way,  to  weaken  the  walls  of  race  prejudice,  and 
undermine  the  social  barriers  which  are  erected  by  in- 
tolerance and  hate,  but  there,  again,  how  galling  it  is 
to  me,  doctor,  when  looking  over  the  audience  from 
the  pulpit,  seeing  some  of  the  very  best  Christians  be- 
fore me,  I  am  compelled  to  read  prayers  that  are 
tinged  with  narrow  and  tribal  ideas." 

"  I  know  it,  and  I  feel  for  you,  and  I  will  gladly  do 
all  that  I  can,  for  I  believe  that  the  time  has  come  for 
us  to  present  the  intellectual  and  the  ethical  side  of 
our  religion  to  the  world  at  large  that  will  bring  us  de- 
served recognition." 

The  rabbi  mused  for  a  moment,  looked  his  friend 
steadily  in  the  face,  then  said:  "We  have  known 
each  other  but  a  short  time,  still  there  seems  to  be  an 
5 


130  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

understanding  between  us,  for  we  are  both  working  for 
the  improvement  of  the  community." 

"  I  sincerely  hope  so,"  answered  Cavallo. 

"Well,  you  wish  to  help  me,  do  you  ?" 

"With  all  my  heart." 

"Then  start  right  now.  Next  Sunday  a  general 
meeting  of  the  congregation  will  take  place,  when  some 
very  important  changes  in  our  ritual  will  be  suggested. 
The  new  Union  Hebrew  Prayer  Book  will  come  up  for 
adoption.  I  shall  need  strong  backing,  for,  while  Mr. 
Jacob  Kinofsky  has  agreed  to  work  for  the  prayer 
book,  he  is  so  uncertain  that  the  chances  are  that  he 
will  work  against  it." 

Dr.  Cavallo  reflected.  Some  one  must  come  to  the 
assistance  of  the  venerable  rabbi.  He  did  not  particu- 
larly care  to  have  a  quarrel  on  his  hands,  but  he  could 
at  least  go  and  see  for  himself,  and  be  then  in  a  posi- 
tion to  judge  how  great  this  sentiment  was.  Then,  as 
a  member  of  the  congregation,  he  ought  to  take  up  his 
share  of  the  burden  and  actively  affiliate  with  them.  He 
therefore  slowly  replied,  "I  will  assist  in  this  work  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power,  and  I  will  be  there  as  a 
listener,  at  all  events." 

The  rabbi,  thanking  him  earnestly  for  his  good  will, 
bade  him  a  warm  good-bye. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


When  the  president  rapped  for  order  every  member 
of  the  congregation  was  in  his  seat.  They  felt  that 
this  was  to  be  a  red  letter  day  in  the  annals  of  Ohabei 
Shalom.  The  new  prayer-book  was  to  come  up  for 
consideration.  There  was  an  air  of  expectancy  over 
the  whole  assembly.  The  president  briefly  stated  the 
object  of  the  meeting,  and  hoped  that  harmony  would 
prevail  throughout  its  deliberations.  "The  prayer- 
book,"  said  he,  "has  been  before  you  for  some  weeks 
past,  and  has  been  adopted  by  most  of  the  leading 
congregations  in  the  land,"  and  he  hoped  that  the 
members  of  Ohabei  Shalom  would  not  be  found  in  the 
rear  of  this  advanced  movement. 

After  the  applause  had  subsided  which  the  presi- 
dent's remarks  elicited,  Mr.  Shultheimer  moved  the 
adoption  of  the  prayer-book.  This  motion  was 
seconded  by  at  least  one-half  of  the  members  present. 

Mr.  Einstein  said  that  he  wanted  to  say  a  word. 
Mr.  Einstein  was  a  large,  fat  man,  who  wanted  to  pose 
as  a  great  reformer  and  benefactor  of  his  race.  In  the 
matter  of  swelling  words  he  was  perfectly  at  home, 
and  on  this  occasion  he  was  full  to  the  chin.  He  said 
he  was  in  favor  of  reform  in  pretty  nearly  everything 
except  when  these  bigots  wanted  to  close  all  the  bar- 
ber shops  on  Sundays  and   shut  up  the  clothing  stores 


132  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

so  that  a  man  couldn't  get  a  clean  shave  nor  a  clean 
shirt  when  he  came  in  off  the  road.  Every  man  ought 
to  have  his  religious  scruples  respected,  but  they  were 
carrying  this  closing  business  too  far. 

Here  the  president  called  him  to  order  and  inquired 
what  barber  shops  had  to  do  with  the  prayer  book. 

"There  are  people,1'  said  Mr.  Einstein,  "who  want  a 
new  set  of  prayers."  For  his  part  he  was  willing  to  pray 
out  of  any  book,  so  that  the  people  were  satisfied.  It 
was  all  the  same  to  him.  He  had  noticed  this,  that 
those  who  didn't  pray  at  all  were  the  ones  who  stuck 
closest  to  the  old  ritual. 

Mr.  Ikelheim  said  that  he  fully  agreed  with  every- 
thing that  Mr.  Einstein  had  said.  Mr.  Einstein  had 
put  it  very  nicely.  He  wanted  something  new.  He 
wanted  to  be  advanced.  These  old  things  must  be 
dropped  and  advanced  ideas  taken  up. 

Several  other  members  spoke  strongly  urging  the 
adoption  of  the  prayer  book. 

Then  a  call  was  made  for  the  rabbi. 

He  briefly  explained  its  origin  and  contents.  It  was 
the  outcome,  said  he,  of  careful  study.  He  showed 
that  congregations  in  this  country  had,  in  the  last  years, 
multiplied  prayer  books  so  much  so,  that  it  became 
necessary  for  an  Israelite,  who  left  his  own  home  and 
desired  to  worship  elsewhere,  to  take  a  trunk  load  of 
various  prayer  books  if  he  desired  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  services  at  the  places  he  visited. 

After  many  years  of  earnest  work  by  the  rabbis,  the 
new  prayer  book  has  been  adopted  by  their  conference, 
the  most  representative  body  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 
These  men  are  scholars,  devoted  to  their  duties,  pro- 
found thinkers,  in  love  with  their  calling,  champions 


DOCTOR    CAVALl.O  133 

of  progress.  The  prayer  book  is  in  line  with  the  spirit 
of  modern  Judaism.  All  oriental  notions  and  all  ref- 
erences to  a  return  to  Jerusalem  have  been  eliminated. 
In  fact  a  broad  spirit  of  catholicity  breathes  through- 
out its  pages. 

There  was  a  pause  and  then  Mr.  Kinofsky  arose. 

He  was  a  thin,  wild  looking  man  with  a  short  figure, 
a  haggard  face,  black  hair,  a  pair  of  restless  eyes  and  a 
beard  that  ran  out  straight  from  his  pointed  chin.  His 
huge  nose,  hooked  like  a  parrot's  beak,  and  his  narrow 
forehead  with  its  heavy  crop  of  coarse  black  hair, 
down  low,  gave  him  such  an  air  that  lately  he  went  in 
the  city  by  the  nickname  of  "  Svengali."  He  had 
come  to  the  city  as  the  van  guard  in  the  great  Russian 
persecution  some  years  before.  He  started  as  a  ped- 
dler, and  from  having  a  pack  he  had  now  risen  to  the 
dignity  of  two  horses  and  a  cart,  and  a  peddler  or  two 
under  him,  and  he  began  to  traffic  in  rags,  in  old  iron, 
and  in  all  the  waste  of  the  city.  He  became  the  leader 
of  the  Russian  Jews,  and  assumed  authority  over  them, 
so  that  he  represented  that  element  in  the  congrega- 
tion. This  gave  him  a  sort  of  power  and  influence 
which  he  was  not  slow  to  use.  He  stoutly  opposed 
every  innovation,  regularly  bound  the  phylacteries  on 
his  arm  and  forehead,  kissed  the  tzitzis  (the  fringe  on 
the  praying  shawl)  when  he  prayed,  and  kept  all  the 
fasts  and  feasts  religiously.  It  hurt  him  when  the 
praying  shawls  were  laid  aside.  At  every  new  idea  he 
raised  his  voice  in  angry  protest,  and  he  always  man- 
aged to  stir  up  strife  over  it.  The  congregation  sus- 
pected that  the  proposition  to  introduce  a  new  prayer 
book  would  arouse  his  active  opposition. 

He  had  begun  by  being  subservient  to  his  superiors, 


134  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

now  he  had  outgrown  all  of  this.  He  was  dicta- 
torial, and  loved  to  give  his  commands  in  a  loud  voice. 
His  favorite  phrase  was,  "You  hear  me." 

He  was  short,  but  lean,  and  he  hobbled  as  he  walked. 
Now,  he  arose  and  said  :  "  Meester  President"  and 
every  one  turned  and  looked  at  him." 

Seeing  this,  he  went  down  in  front,  and  looked  at 
the  congregation.  Some  of  the  audience  laughed,  but 
he  stopped  this  by  waving  his  hand  at  them. 

Then  he  repeated,  "  Meester  "President:  I  haf  nod- 
ings  to  say.  Eef  dat  book  suit  you  it  suit  me,"  at 
which  remark  he  received  a  round  of  applause. 

He  went  on,  "Veil,  veil,  not  so  geshvind  (jargon 
for  fast),  my  frents.  Dat  vas  a  goot  book,  I  hav  no  ob- 
jection in  beleeving  it.  Unt  eef  dat  book  goomes  into 
der  skoal  (synagogue)  out  goes  Yacob  Kinofsky.  You 
hear  me.  Mine  frent,  Mr.  Einstein,  says  giv  de  peeble 
vat  dey  vants,  unt  mine  frent,  Mr.  Ikelheim,  vants  dat 
book  too.  Veil,  veil  let  dem  hav  dat  book  vid  mine 
gompliments,  but,  you  hear  me,  dat  book  will  nefer 
gum  into  dat  shool  ven  I  knows  mineself.  Mine  frent, 
der  rabbi,  gets  on  de  ground  unt  says,  dat  book  is  goot, 
it's  nice,  it's  great,  it's  vine,  it  vas  made  by  dem  rabbis 
vots  knows  all  about  our  neets  unt  our  vants.  Who  is 
dem  rabbis  vat  goomes  up  unt  tells  us  ve  vants  you  to 
take  dot  book  for  to  pray  ?  I  am  a  Jehudi  (Jew), 
Meester  President  unt  shentelmens,  unt  do  you  mean  to 
tell  me,1'  (here  he  adjusted  his  spectacles,  and  holding 
up  the  prayer  book  before  the  congregation,  shook  it 
at  the  rabbi,  exclaiming,  at  the  top  of  his  voice), 
"  Ees  dis  die  book  dat  you  vants  our  childrens  to  take  ; 
vy  die  book  stharts  upside  down,  dere  is  no  mussif 
(part  of  the  prayer)  ;  I  finds  no  kedusha  (sanctification 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I  35 

prayer),  unt  many  more  dings  I  dont  finds  any  ;  dis 
vas  gomposed  by  dem  rabbis  dat  is  so  great.  Vat  dey 
doos  ?  Dey  shmoke  on  Shabbas  (Sabbath),  dey  eat 
trafe,  dey  talks  of  Chaysus,  unt  dem  otter  fellows  from 
die  pulbit.  Dey  vant  us  all  to  begum  goyim  ('gentiles), 
Gatholics  !  Gatholics  !  !  Gatholics  !  ! !  dey  vant  us  all 
to  begum." 

Here  he  was  interrupted  by  Mr.  Tobias,  who  inter- 
posed an  objection  that  the  gentleman  should  be  a 
little  more  guarded  in  his  expressions. 

At  this,  Mr.  Kinofsky  nearly  lost  his  head,  vehem- 
ently retorting  that  Mr.  Tobias  was  no  good  Jehudi, 
and  telling  that  gentleman  to  shut  up.  Shaking  his  hand 
before  the  rabbi's  face,  he  shouted,  M  You  vants  new 
prayer-book,  eh,  eh,  to  begum  Gatholics  !  Gatholics  ! !  •' 

The  rabbi  good-naturedly  remarked,  "Will  you 
kindly  explain,  Mr.  Kinofsky,  what  you  mean  by  this 
insinuation  ?" 

u  I  takes  no  insults  from  you,"  roared  Mr.  Kinofsky. 
"  I  leave  it  to  die  people  here,  you  did  say  before  dat 
dat  prayer-book  was  full  of  Gatholics." 

Here  they  all  burst  out  in  a  good-humored  laugh,  and 
Mr.  Tobias  remarked  that  Mr.  Kinofsky  evidently 
alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  rabbi  stated  that  the  prayer- 
book  breathes  a  broad  spirit  of  catholicity.  "  I  would 
suggest,  Mr.  President,  that  for  the  benefit  of  the  gen- 
tleman, we  secure  a  copy  of  Webster's  Unabridged  Dic- 
tionary, and  he  will  find  that  the  word  our  rabbi  used 
is  the  broadest  expression  of  universal  love." 

At  this  Mr.  Kinofsky  was  furious.  He  approached 
Mr.  Tobias,  and  roared,  "You  teach  me,  you  tells  me 
to  gets  Vebster's  Dichionary  unter  die  bridge.  You 
hear  me.     You,  your'e  a  vine  chudge,  a  vine  oxample 


I36  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

of  Yehudaism.  You  gets  up  here  die  last  meeting  unt 
say,  ve  don't  vants  no  more  shofar,  no  shofar  (ram's 
horn).  Eh,  you  hear  me.  Vat's  goin1  to  begum  of 
you.  For  a  man  likes  you,  ve  don't  vants  no  more 
Yehudaism,  ve  don't  vants  no  more  relichion  ;  you  don't 
vant  no  more  shofar.  Die  next  ding  you  vill  vants  a 
Ghristmas  tree,  and  then  you  vill  vants  a  grucifix  on  die 
outside  of  die  shool.  Ah,  ha !  You  hear  me.  Ah, 
ah  !     Vat  you  say,  now,  you  fellows  ?  " 

Mr.  Rixman,  a  progressive  man,  here  interposed,  and 
said  :  "We  are  not  a  set  of  school  boys,  Mr.  President, 
to  be  tortured  by  this  gifted  Demosthenes.  I,  for  one, 
will  no  longer  submit  to  it." 

"  Vat,"  shrieked  Kinofsky,  u  you  calls  me  names. 
Ah,  ha.  I  show  you  who  made  you.  Ven  you  gums 
into  me,  asking  me  to  vote  for  a  prayer-book,  you  don't 
speaks  dat  vay  ;  you  shust  vait,  I  get  even  vid  you  some 
day.     You  hear  me." 

11  I  call  Mr.  Konifsky  to  order,"  said  Mr.  Davids,  a 
young  professional  man. 

At  that  Mr.  Kinofsky  turned  on  him,  and  his  voice 
was  hoarse  with  rage.  "Orters,"  he  said  "orters. 
Who  gives  me  orters.  I  give  orters.  I  send  my  mens 
after  orters.  You  give  me  orters.  Ah,  ha  !  I  show 
you.     I  takes  orters  from  no  boty." 

"You  are  not  speaking  to  the  question,"  said  the 
President  of  the  congregation,  mildly. 

"Keveschion  !  Keveschion,"  screeched  Kinofsky, 
wildly.  u  Who  asks  me  keveschions?  Ah,  ah,  you  vants 
dis  prayer-book,  haf  dis  book  ;  I  vill  not  haf  none.  I 
vants  mine  old sidder  (prayer  book). 

Dr.  Cavallo  was  disgusted,  and  he  showed  it  so 
plainly  in  his  face  that  Mr.  Tobias  came  over  to  him 
and  whispered,  "This  is  fun,  isn't  it?" 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  137 

The  doctor  was  annoyed  more  than  he  cared  to  own. 
He  had  had  an  idea  that  his  work  lay  in  the  direction 
of  advanced  Judaism,  and  he  was  at  the  very  outset 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  most  repulsive  features 
of  the  whole  subject. 

He  replied  to  Mr.  Tobias,  "Why  do  they  not  stop 
such  an  outrageous  performance?" 

"My  dear  sir,"  responded  Tobias,  "he  is  a  member 
of  the  congregation  and  has  the  right  to  talk,  but  I  will 
speak  to  him." 

So  Mr.  Tobias  arose  and  suggested  that  Mr.  Kinof- 
sky  had  spoken  about  long  enough  and  fully  as  long 
as  he  was  entitled  to. 

Kinofsky  turned  on  him  at  once.  M  Ah  ha,"  he 
yelled.  "  Because  I  don't  pay  but  tweluv  tollar  unt  a 
halup  a  year,  you  tinks  you  put  me  down.  Ah  ha,  you 
hear  me.  I  vas  a  Jehudi  and  I  vill  talk.  I  vill  say  vats 
is  in  mine  het." 

He  went  on  working  himself  up  into  a  towering 
rage  walking  up  and  down  the  aisle  screaming  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  Pausing  in  front  of  one  man  he 
shouted  :  M  You  don't  want  no  shofar,  you  don't  keep  no 
Yom  Kippur  (Day  of  Atonement).  You  are  no  gut 
Jehudi"  He  swung  his  fists,  and  at  last  one  member 
said  : 

"There  is  no  longer  any  sense  in  tolerating  this 
man's  abuse.     He  means  to  rule  or  ruin." 

This  was  as  fire  to  tow.  He  shouted  ten  times 
louder  than  before.  "Yes,  ah,  ha,  thatvosme.  Yes,  I 
vill  rule  or  ruin.  Ah,  ha.  Yes,  I  vill !  No  shofar. 
You  hear  me,  no  Yom  Kippur.  No  nodings,  all  gone. 
I  vos  a  Choo.  Tarn  dat  prayer  book,  you  hear  me.  I 
vas   Yakob  Kinofsky,  unt  ven   the  new   prayer   book 


I38  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

gomes  in,  I  goes  out.  Ven  Yakob  Kinofsky  goes  out, 
everydings  goes  too,  you  hear  me.  I  vos  all  vool  unt 
a  yard  vide  on  prayer  books  unt  dings.  I  don't  takes 
a  back  seat  from  no  man."  And  he  ended  by  shaking 
his  fist  under  the  nose  of  a  new  member  and  wanting 
to  fight.  The  uproar  increased.  Every  member  was 
on  his  feet  and  wanted  to  say  a  word.  Mr.  Kinofsky 
became  more  and  more  excited.  He  vowed  he  would 
start  another  congregation,  he  said  that  he  was  the 
only  true  Jew  in  the  city  and  he  knew  more  Hebrew 
than  the  rabbi.  Tobias  whispered  to  Cavallo  that, 
while  he  could  read  a  little  Hebrew,  he  did  not  under- 
stand what  a  word  of  it  meant. 

All  of  this  time  Mr.  Kinofsky  was  prancing  up  and 
down,  waving  his  hand  and  shouting. 

By  this  time  Kinofsky  had  found  an  ally,  a  man  with 
a  deep  Russian  brogue  who  had  to  leave  his  native 
home  near  Wilna  while  quite  a  young  man.  Fortune 
had  smiled  upon  him  in  a  small  way.  He  had  led  a 
life  of  strict  economy  and  he  had,  with  the  shrewdness 
of  his  race,  convinced  the  community  that  by  means 
of  fire  sales  he  sold  clothing  cheaper  than  any  one 
else.  He  was  a  true  bigot  and  he  gloried  in  it.  For 
years  he  was  a  member  of  a  little  Russian-Polish  con- 
gregation conspicuous  for  its  quarrels  and  its  pen- 
chant for  dragging  its  dirty  linen  through  the  police 
courts.  These  men  were  a  set  of  uncouth  individuals, 
driven  away  from  their  native  home,  and  while  hard- 
working and  sober,  they  were  anything  but  an  honor 
to  Judaism.  They  practiced  the  old  rites,  intoned  the 
liturgy  in  traditional  melodies  and  their  entire  re- 
ligious life  smacked  of  Palestine  rather  than  America. 
They  all  wanted  to  be  leaders.     They  all  posed  as  rab- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  139 

bis  and  teachers.  The  members  of  the  Ohabei  Shalom 
did  not  recognize  them,  but  they  would,  out  of 
kindness,  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  Shochet 
(ritual  butcher).  In  this  congregation  Mr.  Abram- 
ovitz  was  a  shining  light,  but  he  had  finally  quarreled 
with  his  Polish  brethren  and  then  affiliated  with 
Ohabei  Shalom.  He  prided  himself  on  his  perfect 
mastery  of  Hebrew  literature  and  in  all  his  dealings 
and  conversations  he  flaunted  some  quotations  from 
the  old  masters,  but  never  with  any  accuracy.  In  fact, 
he  was  the  most  superficial  fellow  in  the  congregation. 
He  had  a  few  smattering  sentences,  picked  up  in  his 
boyhood,  when  he  was  sent  to  a  Hebrew  school.  When 
Abramovitz  became  excited  he  relapsed  into  "Yid- 
dish" (Hebrew  jargon). 

When  he  first  attached  himself  to  Ohabei  Shalom  he 
was  a  fawning  follower  of  the  rabbi,  but  the  latter  soon 
incurred  his  enmity.  In  delivering  a  series  of  ad- 
dresses he  made  a  plea  for  advanced  thought.  One  of 
these  discourses  troubled  Abramovitz. 

In  this  the  rabbi  made  a  strong  appeal  for  a  closer 
union  between  the  different  denominations,  and  he  men- 
tioned the  name  of  Jesus  from  the  pulpit,  lauding  him 
as  a  great  teacher.  This  was  enough  for  Abramovitz, 
He  declared  that  the  rabbi  was  an  enemy  of  Israel.  Here 
now  was  his  opportunity  to  display  his  friendship  for 
Kinofsky,  exhibit  his  marvelous  acquaintance  with  Jew- 
ish literature,  and  give  his  spiritual  guide  an  under- 
handed slap. 

"  Brooder  Fres'idem*,"  he  began,  u  I  vas  broud  dat  I 
livs,  unt  I  vas  broud  dat  I  vas  here  to  listen  to  die  vords 
of  mine  goot  frent,  Meester  Yakob  Kinofsky.  He  vas 
a  Jehudii  vat  I  calls  a  Choo,  and  so  vas  I.     Who  vants 


140  DOCTOR    CAVALL0 

to  tell  me  about  sidder  ?  Vill  dese  rabbis  write  prayers 
for  us  ?  Mine  frents,  gib  a  look  in  dat  book  (singing 
his  words),  unt  tell  me  eef  dem  Goyim  (Gentiles),  eef 
dem  Shabbes-breakers,  chazer fressers  (swine  eaters),  is 
fit  to  make  tfillis  (rituals).  The  Anshe  Keneses  hagado- 
lah  (the  men  of  the  Great  Synagogue),  (still  singing 
the  words  as  he  spoke),  the  makers  of  the  goot  tfillah, 
vas  men  zaddikim^  landonim  (pious  scholars),  ai,  ai,  ai, 
unt  dat  book  our  footers  unt  our  mooters  vent  mit  it, 
day  unt  night,  shlept  mit  it,  unt  vaked  mit  it,  unt 
valked  efry  hour  unt  efry  minit.  Dem  vere  Choo 
rabbis,  by  golly,  dat  knows  vat  is  vat.  Dis  book 
(opening  the  book  widely  and  almost  breaking  it)  is  a 
Chooish  book,  eh  ;  it  is  a  Anglis  book,  unt,  Meester 
President,  mine  heart  unt  mine  soul  vas  vid  Mr.  Kinof- 
sky,  unt  eef  dat  book  gums  in  here,  I,  too  goes  out." 

Having  exhausted  himself,  the  speaker  sat  down. 

Here  a  number  of  gentlemen  tried  to  catch  the  presi- 
dent's eye,  but  Mr.  Kinofsky  jumped  to  his  feet,  and 
continued  his  remarks,  giving  no  other  one  a  chance, 
but  his  voice  was  so  hoarse  with  shouting  and  scream- 
ing, nothing  could  be  understood. 

An  uproar  set  in,  and  the  president,  fearing  that  it 
might  break  up  in  a  melee,  adjourned  the  meeting,  and 
the  members  gathered  in  little  groups,  and  discussed 
the  unfortunate  occurrence  in  an  excited  manner. 

Cavallo  was  joined  by  the  rabbi,  Herman,  and  Tobias, 
and  together  they  walked  out  of  the  synagogue, 
leaving  Kinofsky  and  Abramovitz  berating  the  whole 
thing,  the  members,  the  rabbi,  the  prayer-book,  and 
everybody  connected  with  it,  to  such  members  of  the 
congregation  as  would  listen,  either  from  sympathy  or 
for  the  humor  of  the  scene. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  141 

As  the  little  group  walked  away,  Cavallo  said,  "And 
this  is  the  sort  of  men  by  whom  we  are  judged.  These 
noisy,  disagreeable,  screeching  fools,  stamp  the  name 
of  Jew  with  opprobrium,  and  make  us  a  taunt,  a  byword, 
and  a  reproach  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  !  " 

"My  dear  sir,"  replied  the  rabbi,  "think  that  that 
man  represents  years  of  repression  and  persecution. 
His  ancestors  and  himself  have  been  fairly  ground  into 
the  earth.  He  has  been  condemned  to  every  sort  of 
indignity,  and  every  kind  of  epithet  has  been  heaped 
upon  him.  Through  it  all  he  has  been  taught  that  he 
is  in  a  state  of  exile.  The  time  will  come,  he 
was  told,  when  he  would  be  rescued  and  taken  back  to 
the  promised  land.  Everything  depended  upon  his 
keeping  up  the  old  customs  and  the  old  observances. 
It  was  because  his  fathers  neglected  these  that  they 
were  first  enslaved  by  Babylon.  The  time  that  they 
have  been  outcasts  and  captives  cuts  no  figure,  for 
were  they  not  four  hundred  years  in  the  land  of  Egypt? 
Were  they  not  for  seventy  years  in  Babylon?  The 
longer  the  time  the  more  glorious  the  deliverance.  To 
speak,  therefore,  of  change  to  such  a  one  as  Kinofsky, 
is  to  shock  all  of  his  sentiments  and  to  arouse  all  of 
his  prejudices.  He  does  not  see  the  tendencies  of 
modern  thought.  He  does  not  see  that  restoration  is 
impossible,  and  that  if  the  command  to  go  back  to 
Palestine  were  received  to-morrow,  he  would  be  the  last 
to  go,  in  fact,  he  would  not  go  at  all.  He  simply  re- 
sists all  change.  He  would  like  to  feel  that  everything 
is  just  as  it  was,  and  when  this  is  done  he  is  satisfied. 
It  is  possible  to  elevate  his  children.  It  is  not  possible 
to  move  him.1' 

44  And  Abramovitz  ?  "  asked  Tobias. 


142  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"The  same  thing  with  Abramovitz,1'  returned  the 
rabbi.  u  He  has  a  little  more  superficial  culture  than 
Kinofsky,  and  a  little  more  sense  of  propriety,  but  he 
has  not  enough  to  take  him  out  of  the  same  rut.  In 
fact,  he  represents  the  old  maxim  that  a  little  learning 
is  a  dangerous  thing.  Then  he  wanted  to  pose  as 
the  friend  of  Kinofsky  and  get  a  dig  at  me.  He  knows 
better,  but  when  he  thought  that  he  could  make  a 
point,  he  sacrificed  everything  else  and  took  up  a  posi- 
tion that  he  knew  he  could  not  sustain.  In  fact,  the 
evolution  of  these  great  ideas  have  not  reached  either 
of  them  ;  the  one  is  protected  by  his  ignorance,  the 
other  by  his  conceit." 

"  I  can  say  these  things,"  continued  the  rabbi,  "for  I 
am  a  Polish  Jew  myself,  and  received  my  early  educa- 
tion at  Warsaw.  The  history  of  the  Jews  in  Poland  is 
one  of  the  most  romantic  and  pathetic  that  can  be  con- 
ceived. You  know  that  for  hundreds  of  years  and  all 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Polish  Jew  occupied  a 
position  of  prominence  throughout  that  kingdom.  He 
was  then  progressive  and  in  advance  of  his  times  even. 
He  was  the  teacher.  It  was  to  Poland  that  the  Jews  in 
France  and  Germany  looked  for  their  rabbis.  The 
names  of  Shalom  Shachna,  Solomon  Lurya  and  Moses 
Isserles  are  beacon  lights  in  the  line  of  classical  scholar- 
ship. To  them  were  submitted  all  the  difficult  questions 
that  the  Hebrew  scholars  in  Germany,  in  France  and  in 
Italy  were  incapable  of  answering.  Since  the  terri- 
ble persecution  of  the  Czars,  a  great  many  of  them 
have  been  forced  into  narrow  grooves,  but  even  today, 
nowhere  in  the  world  is  the  love  of  study  so  intensified 
as  it  is  among  these  Polish  and  Russian  Jews.  Many 
a  father  and  mother  have  denied  themselves  the  neces- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  143 

saries  of  life  to  procure  some  education  for  their  chil- 
dren. I  can  well  remember,  some  forty  years  ago,  seeing 
this  great  thirst  for  knowledge  displayed  even  by  the 
poorest  class.  The  mechanics,  the  workingmen,  conT 
gregated  in  their  synagogues,  which  were  provided 
with  plenty  of  books,  and  devoted  at  least  one  hour 
every  day  to  the  study  of  the  law.  Many  of  these 
people  being  denied  by  the  government  a  secular  edu- 
cation, have  been  forced  to  fall  back  upon  the  Hebrew 
literature  alone  for  their  intellectual  development,  and 
this  has  made  them  all  the  more  scrupulous  in  the  ob- 
servance of  the  law,  and  opposed  to  the  slightest 
change. 

"A  few  years  ago  when  I  went  back  to  Poland  on  a 
visit,  I  was  struck  with  the  sight  of  old,  white  haired 
men  pouring  over  Shakspeare,  Milton,  Goethe,  Schiller, 
and  others,  whose  works  had  been  translated  into 
Hebrew,  showing,  that  with  all  of  their  disadvantages, 
they  were  endeavoring  to  reach  out  after  higher  culture. 
It  is  almost  a  common  thing  in  all  Polish  and  Russian 
cities  which  Jews  inhabit,  to  find  them  repairing  night 
after  night,  and  almost  the  entire  day  Saturday,  to  the 
Beth  Hamedrisch  (House  of  Learning).  They  them- 
selves, no  matter  how  poor  they  are,  superintend,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  education  of  their  children.  In  Rus- 
sia and  Poland  some  of  these  very  Jews,  notwithstand- 
ing their  disabilities,  have  risen  to  the  very  highest  sum- 
mit of  culture  and  learning.  This  is  particularly  the  case 
in  literature,  in  art,  in  law,  in  music,  in  philology,  in 
mathematics,  and  in  many  other  branches  of  culture. 
While  we  sneer  at  the  Polish  peddler,  did  you  ever  re- 
flect, doctor,  that  these  Jews  have  the  spirit  of  the  mar- 
tyr in  them  ?    They  are  pushed  out  in  the  world.     They 


144  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

have  been  driven  from  their  own  land,  and  nearly  all 
other  countries  have  closed  the  door  against  them. 
Even  their  own  brethren  in  other  lands  sneer  at  them  for 
their  manners,  for  which  they  are  not  to  blame.  They 
have  been  crushed  in  their  own  home  and  derided  in 
every  other,  and  yet  they  could,  by  renouncing  their 
faith,  have  been  allowed  to  live  in  their  own  country, 
and  could  have  had  all  honors  conferred  on  them. 
That  they  have  chosen  to  accept  degredation,  starva- 
tion, scorn,  contempt  and  misery  rather  than  to  forsake 
their  own  faith,  is  the  strongest  tribute  that  could  be 
adduced  that  the  spirit  of  Judaism  is  not  yet  dead,  but 
is  an  ever  living  and  vital  principle.  Those  who  say 
with  a  sneer  that  there  is  no  spirituality  in  Judaism, 
ought  to  take  off  their  hats  to  the  next  poor  Polish 
peddler  they  meet  and  ask  his  pardon,  for  his  shoe 
latchet  they  are  unworthy  to  loose." 

"It  seems  to  me,1'  said  Tobias,  "that  these  two  are 
like  blocks  of  granite.  They  are  partially  embedded 
in  the  soil ;  trees  grow  above  them,  flowers  spring  up, 
blossom  and  bear  seed ;  grass  fringes  their  base,  and 
the  sky  and  sun  put  on  their  wonderful  changes  over 
them,  but  the  granite  changes  not,  and  remains,  year 
after  year,  solid,  fixed  and  immovable." 

"  Yes,1'  said  the  rabbi,  "  but,  after  a  time,  even  the 
granite  yields  to  the  gentle  influence  of  the  summer 
showers,  and  little  by  little  they  change  the  outline  of 
the  boulder,  wearing  away  a  rough  corner  here  and 
smoothing  down  a  rugged  edge  there,  until  at  last  the 
lichens  begin  to  grow  upon  its  surface,  and  finally  it, 
too,  shows  the  effects  of  cultivation." 

"  I  did  not  know  that  you  were  a  poet,  Tobias,  I 
knew  that  the  rabbi  was  given  to  this,  but  I  never  ex- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  145 

pected  to  hear  it  from  you,*'  Mr.  Herman  laughingly 
remarked. 

Then,  addressing  the  doctor,  he  added  :  M  I  am,  in- 
deed, sorry  that  this  should  have  occurred  when  you 
made  your  first  appearance  officially.  There  are  in  all 
communities,  as  you  well  know,  men  who,  while  they 
are  boisterous  and  obstreperous,  are  still  not  bad  fel- 
lows at  heart.  They  are  well  meaning  in  their  way,  as 
our  friend  remarked  justly.  They  had  a  different  train- 
ing, different  bringing  up.  Why,  even  the  devil,  they 
say,  is  not  so  black  as  he  is  painted.  These  people 
will  come  around  in  time,  and  I  have  no  apprehension 
as  to  the  adoption  of  the  Union  Prayer  Book.  Every 
thing  will  be  all  right  in  time.  For  the  present,  we 
must  let  matters  cool  off  some.  Let  this  not,  how- 
ever, estrange  you,  as  you  see  we  need  you  more  than 
ever." 

Shaking  hands  warmly,  they  parted. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


When  the  doctor  reached  his  office,  he  found  on  his 
table  a  note  from  Mrs.  Bernheim  asking  him  to  come 
up  to  the  house  to  meet  Ram  Chunder  Sen,  the  great 
Brahmin,  who  would  deliver  a  discourse  on  the  Occult 
Science.  The  doctor  smiled  to  himself.  He  cared 
little  for  this  sort  of  thing.  There  are  enough  mystic- 
isms in  real  life  to  satisfy  him,  but  he  would  not  dis- 
appoint his  good  friend  who  had  stood  by  him  in  his 
philanthropic  measures  and  given  them  such  enthusi- 
astic support,  and  so  he  wended  his  way  to  the  Bern- 
heim mansion  and  soon  was  in  the  parlors  of  his  host- 
ess. He  found  Ram  Chunder  Sen,  the  perfect  type  of 
a  Brahmin  after  the  most  approved  idea.  He  was  a 
tall,  dark  man,  speaking  fairly  good  English,  with  a 
pleasant  accent,  but  with  a  dignity  that  manifested  it- 
self in  every  wave  of  his  hand,  in  every  intonation  and 
inflection   of  his  voice. 

When  the  doctor  came  in,  the  eminent  Hindoo  was 
delivering  a  discourse  upon  the  world's  cycles.  If  we 
take  two  dice,  he  said,  after  so  many  throws  we  shall 
see  that  we  shall  have  double  sixes  once  in  so  long, 
and  we  can  depend  upon  these  coming  up  with  the 
sixes  uppermost  once  in  so  often.  If  we  take  three 
dice  we  shall  find  that  once  in  so  long  the  sixes  will 
come  face  uppermost.     It  will  take  longer  with  three 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  147 

than  with  two.  The  same  law  holds  good  with  four. 
If  we  take  a  dozen  dice  we  shall  discover  that  in  so 
many  throws  we  shall  find  all  of  the  dice  fall  with  the 
sixes  uppermost. 

If  we  take  ten  thousand  dice  the  same  law  holds 
good.  After  so  many  throws,  it  may  be  ten  thousand, 
it  may  be  a  million,  all  of  the  dice  will  fall  with  the 
six  face  uppermost.  So  we,  in  this  room,  are  composed 
of  so  many  atoms  of  matter.  We  meej;  here  in  a  cer- 
tain position.  Now,  in  time,  all  of  the  atoms  compos- 
ing our  systems  will  come  together  in  the  same  posi- 
tions that  they  are  in  now,  and  we  shall  be  doing  just 
the  same  thing  that  we  are  now  doing.  It  may  take 
millions  of  years  or  millions  of  millions  of  years  to  do 
this,  but  this  does  not  count  in  eternity. 

This  was  delivered  in  a  dreamy  tone,  suggestive  of 
the  very  deepest  of  the  occult  sciences,  and  Cavallo 
listened  with  an  amused  interest  and  watched  the 
effect  on  the  audience.  Most  of  them  were  painfully 
interested,  and  took  in  the  words  of  the  mystic  as 
those  of  a  prophet. 

When  the  lecture  was  over  the  guests  were  presented 
to  Ram  Chunder  Sen,  and  then  they  strolled  about  the 
rooms.  One  man  particularly  attracted  Cavallo's  at- 
tention. He  was  of  medium  size.  His  countenance, 
heavy  and  characterless,  was  illumined  by  a  pair  of 
sleepy  eyes  and  his  face  was  set  off  by  a  tremendous 
mouth.  He  was  introduced  to  the  doctor  by  the  name 
of  Mr.  Lurello  Nagle.  Mr.  Nagle  greeted  him  with 
one  of  those  lifeless  hand  shakings  that  feels  fish-like 
in  its  deadness. 

The  doctor  asked  him  how  he  liked  the  lecture. 

Mr.  Nagle  sighed  disdainfully.  "  I  can  only  say,  in 
the  language  of  Lincoln,  '  For  those  who  like  this  sort 


I48  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

of  a  thing,  this  is  pretty  much  the  sort  of  thing  that 
they  would  like.7  " 

Cavallo  stopped  to  analyze  his  new-made  acquaint- 
ance. He  found  that  Mr.  Nagle  had  an  ill  opinion  of 
everything  and  everybody.  When  he  could  not  openly 
sneer,  he  maligned  and  he  damned  with  faint  praise 
everything  that  came  under  his  notice. 

Mrs.  Nagle  was  entertaining  a  group  of  friends  in  a 
corner.  She  gracefully  greeted  the  doctor  as  he  was 
presented  to  her  by  her  husband.  She  was  a  tall,  regal 
woman,  with  heavy  black  hair,  and  eyebrows  that  met 
across  her  nose.  She  responded  to  the  doctor's  formal 
compliments  by  saying  that  she  had  heard  of  him,  and 
was  proud  to  meet  him. 

She  was  extremely  gracious  and  vivacious.  She  told 
him  that  she  believed  in  science,  that  "she  and  Lurello 
took  nothing  on  trust."  She  made  fun  of  both  Jews 
and  Christians,  of  everything  and  everybody,  but  she 
contrived  to  intersperse  so  many  compliments  to  the 
doctor,  and  even  Nagle  aroused  himself  to  except  the 
doctor  from  his  sweeping  denunciations,  so  that 
before  he  knew  it  himself,  they  had  extracted  a  promise 
from  Cavallo  that  he  would  do  them  the  honor  of 
taking  dinner  with  them  the  next  Sunday.  He  noticed 
after  he  had  given  a  somewhat  reluctant  consent,  a  sig- 
nificant look  pass  between  the  two,  and  this  puzzled 
him.  They  were,  however,  so  very  polite,  and  Mrs* 
Nagle  so  "  deared  "Mrs.  Bernheim,  and  was  treated  by 
that  lady  with  such  courtesy,  that  he  felt  ashamed  of  his 
doubts.  He  did  not  like  Nagle's  face,  but  that,  he  said, 
was  probably  owing  to  his  tremendous  mouth,  and 
after  all,  this  was  a  mark  that  no  one,  he  said  to  him- 
self, ought  to  find  fault  with,  that  Nagle  could  not 
help  it. 


CHAPTER   XX. 


The  Sunday  following  saw  the  doctor  on  his  way  to 
the  Nagle  dwelling.  He  found  that  they  lived  in  a  flat, 
somewhat  pretentious  in  its  outward  appearance,  but 
in  the  interior  there  was  an  air  of  shoddy,  and  of 
an  effort  to  make  the  most  of  everything.  One  felt 
this  in  the  furniture,  in  the  carpets,  in  the  cheap  books, 
—  little  articles  on  the  mantel  and  tables.  It  was  one  of 
those  places  where,  to  use  a  French  phrase,  the  differ- 
ent articles  in  the  room  u  swear  at  each  other." 

The  doctor  was  surprised  to  find  his  old  acquaint- 
ance Seidel  there  as  the  sole  guest.  He  seemed  to  be 
on  very  intimate  terms  with  the  husband  and  wife. 
The  meal  was  eaten  with  a  great  apparent  flow  of  good 
humor.  The  doctor  remarked  that  both  Seidel  and  the 
Nagles  made  special  efforts  to  win  his  favor.  They 
laughed  at  everything  humorous  that  he  said,  openly 
flattered  him  to  his  face,  and  dwelt  at  length  on  his 
efforts  with  Abbott's  Row  in  such  a  way  that  it  annoyed 
him.  He  disclaimed  their  compliments,  loaded  with 
effusive  remarks,  in  which  Seidel  seemed  to  join,  and 
while  unsparing  in  criticisms  of  everything  else,  they 
made  an  open  exception  to  him.  Even  Mrs.  Bernheim 
did  not  escape. 

"I  like  her,1'  said  Mrs.  Nagle,  "but  I  would  like  her 
very  much  better  if  she  were  not  so  pronouncedly 
Jewish." 


150  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

The  doctor  looked  at  her  with  an  air  of  grave  sur- 
prise. "  I  thought  that  you  were  a  Jewess,"  said  he. 
"  Surely,  the  grand  niece  of  the  great  Rabbi  Helsfelder, 
the  greatest  authority  on  the  Talmud  in  this  country, 
cannot  be  ashamed  of  her  race  ?  " 

"  I  simply  detest  it,"  she  said,  M  and  I  wonder  how 
you  can  bear  to  identify  yourself  with  this  people,  who 
are  so  gross,  so  coarse.  I  threw  them  overboard  long 
ago." 

Nagle  smiled  his  malevolent  smile,  in  which  his  mouth 
seemed  ready  to  take  in  all  the  world.  "  You  will  find 
no  superstition  here.  We  believe  only  in  what  we  can 
see.  As  for  those  ceremonies  they  are  simply  stupid. 
The  Talmud  is  a  pack  of  trash,  and  the  Bible  is  not 
much  better." 

His  wife  eagerly  seconded  his  assertions,  and  to- 
gether, they  ridiculed  all  the  old  beliefs.  Seidel  joined 
in  occasionally  and  assisted  them.  The  doctor  thought 
he  saw,  that  while  Seidel  was  secretly  encouraging  Nagle 
in  his  talk,  he  was  sneering  at  him  all  the  time,  and 
finally,  Mrs.  Nagle,  as  if  she  were  acting  a  part,  openly 
snubbed  her  husband,  and  'appealed  to  Seidel  for 
authority  for  her  remarks. 

The  doctor  watched  this  by-play,  and  wondered  why 
he  had  been  selected  for  the  bystander  and  witness  in 
this  strange  domestic  drama.  For  Nagle  did  not  relish 
the  position,  and  while  he  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  his 
wife,  he  ventured  once  or  twice  to  enter  his  protest,  at 
which  she  snubbed  him  more  remorselessly  than  ever. 
He  made  it  up  by  abusing  all  of  his  acquaintances,  in 
which  she  encouraged  him. 

Finally,  as  the  meal  wore  away,  Seidel  began  to  con- 
dole with  Cavallo  for  the  fate  that  had  thrown  him  into 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I  $  I 

active  practice,  and  said,  openly,  that  with  his  talents 
he  could  do  much  better.  Then  he  showed  how  Nagle 
would  make  a  small  fortune  by  getting  hold  of  some  of 
the  mining  stock,  and  that  the  chances  now  lay  open 
and  fair  for  any  one  to  embark. 

Mrs.  Nagle  joined  in,  and  with  her  feminine  curiosity 
wanted  to  know  if  they  would  not  pay  her  a  commis- 
sion if  she  sold  some  of  the  stock.  And  Seidel  went 
on  to  show  that  in  the  West  women  brokers  were  quite 
common,  and  great  fortunes  had  been  made  by  getting 
hold  of  stock  at  a  low  figure,  and  unloading  when  the 
time  was  ripe. 

Doctor  Cavallo  smiled  to  himself  at  this  bait  so 
thinly  disguised,  and  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  all  the 
propositions  that  were  started.  He  said  that  he  had  no 
doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  money  had  been  made  that 
way. 

Seidel  at  this,  brought  up  the  career  of  the  bonanza 
kings,  of  a  great  many  cases  where  men,  poor  one 
week,  had,  by  means  of  a  lucky  strike,  accumulated 
enough  to  last  them  all  of  their  lives.  He  went  on  to 
say  that  with  the  modern  methods  of  business,  any  man 
was  a  fool  to  slave  at  a  profession  when  he  might,  by 
one  lucky  investment,  realize  enough  to  keep  the  wolf 
from  the  door  forever. 

To  all  of  this  the  doctor,  by  his  silence,  seemed  to 
give  assent. 

Then  Seidel  went  on  to  show  that  in  this  age  and  day 
what  is  needed  is  something  to  speculate  with.  The 
intrinsic  value  is  nothing.  Here  is  Reading  stock, 
The  stock  cannot  pay  a  dividend  for  years,  no  matter 
how  well  it  may  be  managed,  and  yet  there  is  always  a 
market  for  it.  They  buy  and  sell  it  with  avidity,  and 
all  because  it  fluctuates  in  value. 


152  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"So,"  replied  the  doctor,  "you  are  really  doing  the 
community  a  service  by  unloading  on  them  a  lot  of 
stocks  that  will  not  be  worth  anything,  but  that  will,  in 
their  rapid  decline  or  fictitious  advance,  give  them  some- 
thing to  speculate  with." 

"It  is  not  quite  so  bad  as  that,"  Seidel  laughed,  "be- 
cause some  of  these  stocks  may  be  worth  something 
at  some  time.  If  they  make  a  lucky  strike  the  stock 
will  be  worth  all  we  ask  for  it.  Of  course  they  have  to 
take  their  chances." 

Little  by  little  the  conversation  drifted  around  to 
the  part  that  each  was  to  play  in  the  affair.  Seidel 
was  to  pose  as  the  capitalist.  Nagle  was  to  play  the 
chemist  and  assayist  and  to  give  glowing  reports  when- 
ever they  were  to  ask  him,  and  he  was  to  be  sent  out 
to  the  mines  by  a  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the 
stockholders.  This  Seidel  undertook  to  manipulate. 
It  was  not  without  many  explanations  and  misgivings 
and  tacking  and  filling  that,  after  a  time,  it  all  came  out. 
They  needed  some  man  of  character  to  head  the  enter- 
prise and  they  had  selected  Cavallo  to  take  this  place. 
If  he  would  go  in,  they  thought  that  he  could  interest 
Bernheim  and  Tobias,  and  with  these  two  names 
Nagle  felt  sure  he  could  float  a  large  block  of  the 
stock. 

This  was,  in  brief,  what  they  hoped  to  do,  but  Seidel 
was  too  good  a  student  of  human  nature  to  spring  this 
upon  the  doctor  without  a  vast  deal  of  preliminary 
talk.  He  even  attempted  to  put  it  to  him  on  his  be- 
nevolent side,  and  talked  learnedly  in  regard  to  the 
policy  of  the  country  in  opening  mines  and  developing 
the  west. 

The   doctor  declined  the   proposition.       He   never 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  153 

speculated  and  he  did  not  know  anything  about  min- 
ing. He  had  always  understood  that  it  was  a  calling 
that  took  an  expert,  and  he  did  not  care  to  embark 
in  it. 

They  pressed  the  matter,  appealing  to  his  cupidity. 
Here  was  an  opportunity  to  make  more  money  in  one 
week  than  he  could  make  in  his  practice  in  a  year  or 
five  years.  Why  not  embrace  it?  Everyone  specu- 
lated more  or  less,  and  this  was  as  legitimate  a  deal 
as  any. 

Mrs.  Nagle  even  appealed  to  him  to  do  it  for  her 
sake  because  she  wanted  to  make  a  little  money. 

If  anything  more  were  needed  to  disgust  the  doctor,  it 
was  this  open  expression  of  avarice,  and  he  positively 
declined.  Conversation  lagged  after  this.  The  meal 
had  long  since  been  finished  and  they  had  adjourned 
to  the  parlor.  Cavallo,  pleading  an  engagement,  soon 
after  took  his  leave. 

As  he  went  down  the  steps  Seidel  looked  at  him  and 
muttered  under  his  breath,  "The  infernal  Jew."  Turn- 
ing, he  saw  Nagle  watching  him  with  his  cavernous 
grin. 

"He  didn't  bite,  did  he?"  he  sneered.  Nagle  could 
not  help  making  an  ill-natured  remark,  even  when  it 
told  against  himself. 

"  No,"  said  Seidel,  "but  I  will  put  a  tack  into  him 
yet," 

On  his  way  home  the  doctor  stopped  a  moment  at 
Tobias's.  That  gentleman  was  in  high  good  humor 
and  asked  him  where  he  had  been. 

"I  have  taken  dinner  with  the  Nagles." 

At  that  Tobias  burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter. 

"  Who   are  they?"  asked    Cavallo.     "I    have   been 


154  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

told  that  Mrs.  Nagle  was  the  niece  of  Rabbi  Hels- 
felder,  and  I  expected  to  find  them  enthusiastic  over 
the  future  of  the  race." 

"And  you  found  them  the  very  opposite.  Well, 
they  are,  in  a  word,  renegades.  They  profess  not  to 
be  Jews.  He  is  a  bookkeeper  holding  a  position  in 
one  of  our  establishments.  He  also  sets  himself  up  as 
a  scientist.  He  professes  to  be  a  microscopist,  and  he 
has  filled  his  wife  with  the  same  sort  of  nonsense.  She 
is  dying  after  social  recognition.  She  runs  after  Mrs. 
Bernheim  for  what  favors  she  can  get  out  of  her,  and 
abuses  her  behind  her  back.  She  courts  the  society  of 
Christians,  and  is  roundly  snubbed  by  them,  of  course. 
They  are  both  of  them  soured  and  unhappy,  berating 
every  one,  and  while  professing  to  be  no  Jews,  they 
get  the  epithet,  Jew,  thrown  in  their  faces  at  every 
turn.  For  my  part  I  am  sorry  for  them,  but  you  will 
find  this  class  everywhere.  There  are  a  set  of  fellows, 
who,  the  moment  they  make  a  little  money,  begin  to 
have  Christmas  trees,  and  to  imitate  the  Christians, 
without  daring  to  wholly  forsake  the  customs  of  their 
fathers.  They  are  a  sorry  set  of  citizens,  and  you  will 
find  that  their  acquaintance  will  profit  you  very  little, 
because  they  are  continually  trying  to  make  money 
out  ot  every  one  with  whom  they  associate.  They 
have  only  one  idea,  and  that  is,  to  get  out  of  everyone 
something  to  better  themselves  ;  either  social  position 
or  cash.  This  is  the  price  of  their  friendship,  and 
their  whole  aim.1' 

Cavallo  smiled,  but  said  nothing. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


Seidel  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  making  his  home 
with  the  Lawrences.  He  had  drawn  Bob,  out  of  the 
very  good  nature  of  the  latter,  into  his  mining  schemes, 
but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  he  had  hoped.  For 
Seidel  could  not  keep  money.  It  flowed  through  his 
fingers  like  water.  If  he  sold  a  little  stock  to-day,  he 
spent  the  money  to-morrow. 

He  felt  that  Mrs.  Lawrence  did  not  fancy  him  much, 
and  that  she  rather  deprecated  the  influence  that  he 
had  over  Bob. 

While  he  treated  Margaret  with  deference,  he  as- 
sumed a  certain  air  of  superiority  that  Mrs.  Lawrence 
did  not  like.  If  Margaret  noticed  it  she  did  not  betray 
it,  but  repaid  Seidel's  talk  with  good  humored  gaiety. 
He  had  discovered  that  Dr.  Cavallo  loved  the  fair  and 
gentle  girl,  and,  partly  to  revenge  himself  upon  the 
latter,  and  partly  to  lay  the  train  for  an  advantageous 
alliance,  he  now  began  to  pay  Margaret  more  open  and 
marked  attentions  than  before.  He  hoped  that  even  if 
he  did  not  compromise  her  in  some  way  by  doing  this 
it  would  give  Cavallo  pain. 

When,  however,  Cavallo  refused  his  offer  to  go  into 
his  stock  schemes,  Seidel  felt  that  he  had  no  time  to 
lose  and  his  attentions  began  to  be  more  demonstra- 
tive.    He  dropped   his   superior  airs   and  put  on  the 


I56  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

character  of  a  lover.  Bob  saw  all  this  and  was  heart- 
ily amused  at  it,  but  he  did  not  interfere  in  the  matter, 
for  he  thought  that  Seidel  was  not  much  to  his  sister's 
liking. 

One  day  Seidel  found  Margaret  alone  in  the  library 
and  he  took  the  opportunity  to  declare  his  sentiments. 
He  described  his  lonely  life.  How  from  boyhood  he 
had  fought  his  way  up,  getting  an  education  and  win- 
ning his  diploma,  as  a  doctor,  in  spite  of  every  effort 
to  prevent  him  on  the  part  of  his  own  people  who 
wanted  to  make  use  of  his  services. 

He  thought  to  himself,  "If  I  can  win  her  sympathy 
I  am  safe." 

He  grew  warmer  and  warmer  as  he  went  on,  telling 
her  that  he  had  never  seen  any  woman  who  was  so 
much  a  part  of  his  life  as  was  hers,  and  that  she  had 
been  to  him  the  one  bright  spot  in  his  later  existence. 
He  was  now  in  such  a  position,  he  told  her,  that  he 
could  offer  the  woman  of  his  choice  all  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  that  would  make  existence  enjoyable. 

He  was  perfectly  at  home  in  this,  for  he  could  simu- 
late a  passion  that  he  did  not  feel,  and  he  was  a  good 
actor,  besides,  Margaret  flattered  his  vanity.  He 
thought  that  she  would  look  uncommonly  well  as 
his  wife. 

As  for  love,  he  laughed  at  that,  and  believed  that 
marriage  was  like  any  other  contract  entered  into  for 
the  mutual  profit  of  both  parties,  and  it  ought  to  be 
dissolved  the  moment  it  became  irksome.  He  did  not 
avow  these  sentiments  while  seeking  Margaret's  hand, 
but  he  set  forth  in  the  most  roseate  light,  as  likely  to 
affect  her,  all  the  advantages  from  his  standpoint,  and 
ended  by  asking  her  flatly  to  tell  him  whether  she  ap- 
preciated his  affection,  and  would  grant  his  suit. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  157 

Margaret  was  no  coquette,  but  she  listened  to  Seidel 
with  the  utmost  composure.  There  was  such  an  air  of 
insincerity  in  all  that  he  said,  that  she  felt  here  was  no 
soul  desirous  of  finding  a  congenial  companion.  It 
was  the  cool  calculation  of  the  speculator,  making  as 
good  a  bargain  as  he  could,  and  haggling  over  the  de- 
tails to  show  that  he  was  giving  more  than  he  received. 

She,  therefore,  told  him  that  he  did  her  too  much 
honor.  She  was  only  a  simple  maiden,  not  worthy  of 
so  great  a  place  as  to  be  the  bride  of  the  rich  Mr. 
Seidel.  That  she  hoped  he  would  recall  his  words,  for 
she  felt  sure  that  they  must  have  been  uttered  without 
due  consideration.  She  was  certain  that  they  did  not 
have  the  slightest  affiliation  in  either  temper  or  taste, 
and  while  she  might  be  gratified  at  his  proposal  and 
condesension,  she  could  not  accept  it. 

He  grew  a  little  angry  at  this,  and  charged  her  with 
having  acted  the  part  of  a  coquette. 

This  she  repelled,  saying,  that  she  had  treated  him 
as  her  brother's  friend  and  guest,  and  that  if  she  had 
displayed  any  interest  in  him,  it  was  only  to  try  and 
make  him  feel  at  home — mere  hospitality — such  as  she 
would  have  accorded  to  any  stranger.  Then  she  added 
that  it  was  his  vanity  that  spoke,  not  his  affections. 

He  saw  that  he  had  made  a  mistake,  and  begged 
her  pardon,  but  he  wanted  her  to  consider  his  case  for 
a  moment.  He  was  in  earnest.  He  wanted  her  for 
his  wife.  If  he  had  not  been  demonstrative,  it  was 
because  he  had  been  taught  by  a  long  intercourse  with 
the  world  to  conceal  his  feelings,  and  not  to  allow 
every  one  to  scan  his  heart.  If  she  needed  more  time, 
he  would  cheerfully  give  it  to  her,  but  he  wanted  her 
to  give  him  hope. 


I58  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

To  this  she  returned  a  decided  negative.  She  did 
not  love  him,  she  told  him,  and  she  never  could  bring 
herself  to  regard  him  with  that  feeling  that  she  must 
bestow  upon  the  man  whom  she  would  select. 

He  grew  angry  at  this,  and  asked  her  if  this  refusal 
arose  because  her  affections  were  already  pledged. 

She  refused  to  allow  him  to  catechise  her.  It  was 
enough  for  him  to  know  that  she  did  not  love  him  and 
never  would. 

Then  he  grew  exceedingly  angry,  and  tauntingly  told 
her  that  she  would  do  well  to  remember  that  she  might 
go  through  the  woods  like  other  maidens,  and  pick  up 
a  crooked  stick  at  the  last. 

She  gave  him  no  reply. 

He  went  on  with  increasing  bitterness  and  sarcasm, 
and  said  that  when  a  girl  was  willing  to  overlook  a 
question  so  great  as  a  difference  in  race,  there  was  no 
telling  what  to  expect. 

She  turned  her  indignant  glance  full  upon  him,  and 
swept  out  of  the  room. 

He  cursed  his  folly  as  soon  as  she  had  gone,  and 
thought  that  he  would  apologize  for  his  rude  and  un- 
courteous  speech.  Then  he  reflected  that  the  best 
thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  say  nothing.  She  would 
not  marry  him,  this  was  certain,  and  the  only  thing 
left  was  to  do  the  next  best  thing.  He  saw  Mrs. 
Lawrence,  and  laughingly  bade  her  good-bye,  say- 
ing he  must  go  to  Chicago.  He  told  Bob  that  he  must 
leave  for  a  few  days  and  attend  to  some  business,  and 
that  he  had  shared  his  hospitality  a  good  while,  for 
which  he  thanked  him.  He  cursed  Cavallo,  inwardly, 
as  he  took  his  way  to  the  train,  and  spent  the  time  in 
considering  what  trap  he  should  set  for  that  individual. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I  59 

If  he  had  cherished  a  dislike  for  him  before,  now  he 
hated  him  with  a  virulence  that  knew  no  bounds.  He 
swore  to  himself  that  he  would  get  even  with  him. 

When  he  came  back  from  his  trip  he   took  up   his 
abode  with  the  Nagles. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


When  Dr.  Cavallo  found,  one  afternoon,  upon  his 
call-book  a  notice  that  Mrs.  Wm.  Allen  requested  his 
services  at  once,  for  her  daughter  was  seriously  ill,  he 
made  a  wry  face. 

"That  pink  and  white  bundle  of  femininity  has  been 
eating  too  much  candy  and  too  many  bon  bons,  and 
thinks  that  I  can  give  her  something  to  set  her  right.  But 
it  is  not  a  doctor's  province  to  choose  his  patients," 
he  mused  and  he  set  out  for  the  Allen  home.  A  very 
beautiful  place  it  was,  surrounded  by  old  trees,  in 
a  lovely  yard,  and  adorned  with  everything  that 
wealth  could  furnish.  He  was  admitted  to  the  sitting- 
room,  and  there  he  found  his  patient,  a  young 
woman  of  perhaps  twenty  years  of  age,  dressed  in 
an  extravagant  negligee,  lolling  in  a  rocking-chair. 
She  looked,  indeed,  like  an  invalid,  for  she  had  a 
muddy  complexion,  a  sallow  skin,  her  mouth  was 
drawn  in  at  the  corners,  and  her  lips  were  dry  and 
parched.  She  had  been  engaged  in  reading  a  novel 
and  in  chewing  gum.  The  book  she  hid  under  her 
seat,  while  the  gum  she  dexterously  put  on  the  chair- 
back,  showing  that  she  had  acquired  the  habit  by  long 
practice.  Her  mother  was  a  well-preserved  matron  of 
fifty  years.  She  had  worked  and  toiled  in  her  younger 
days  with  her  husband,  and  had  acquired  a  tract  of 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  l6l 

land  near  the  city,  where  they  had  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness of  market  gardeners.  The  rapid  growth  of  the 
city  had  swallowed  it  up,  and  Allen  had  sold  it  for 
more  per  inch,  they  used  to  say,  than  he  paid  per  acre. 
He  was  a  shrewd,  careful  man,,and  he  did  not  allow 
any  of  this  wealth  to  slip  through  his  fingers.  His 
wife,  plain  and  sensible  about  everything  else,  made  a 
fool  of  her  daughter,  for  she  brought  her  up  in  worse 
than  idleness.  Reading  novels  and  rocking  all  day 
in  an  easy  chair,  was  about  ail  the  occupation  that 
this  young  lady  followed.  The  doctor  felt  her  pulse, 
as  he  had  done  fifty  times  before,  and  said  : 

11  Miss  Annie,  it  is  useless  for  me  to  give  you  prescrip- 
tions as  long  as  you  will  eat  candy  at  the  rate  you  do. 
You  are  simply  destroying  your  digestion." 

Annie  giggled.  "  D'g'ever  see  a  girl  that  you  could 
stop  eatin1  candy,  Doc.  ?  " 

The  doctor  frowned.  "  You  will  have  to  stop,  Miss 
Annie,  or  you  will  have  a  very  serious  attack  of  indi- 
gestion." 

uOh,  Doc,  you  don't  call  chocolates  candy,  now  do 
you,  Doc.  ?  Say  no,  for  I'm  just  goin'  to  eat  as  many 
as  I  want  to." 

"Annie  is  very  self-willed,"  said  her  mother,  smiling 
indulgently,  "but  I  think,  myself,  that  she  eats  too 
much  candy." 

"Now,  maw,  you  know  that  ain't  so.  I  only  bought 
a  quarter's  worth  of  chocolates,  and  I  gave  some  away 
to  Cholly.  Met  him  on  the  street  and  told  him  to 
come  up,  I  was  an  interestin'  invalid."  .  And  Annie 
giggled  again. 

The  doctor  felt  disgusted,  but  he  opened  his  case 
and    began   to    measure    out    some    powders,   for    he 


l62  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

knew  that  all  that  he  could  say  in  regard  to  diet  would 
do  no  good. 

While  he  was  thus  engaged  the  door  opened,  and  a 
young  man  came  in.  Annie  gave  a  sort  of  crooning 
note  and  added,  "Oh,  Cholly,  what  fun,  come  in  and 
get  some  of  my  powders." 

The  young  man  advanced.  He  was  a  typical  swell 
of  the  latter  day  sort.  He  had  on  the  very  newest  style 
of  tailor-made  trousers,  the  creases  were  according 
to  the  latest  fashion,  and  everything  else  was  cor- 
rect. He  came  in  with  a  wearied  air,  and,  as  Mrs. 
Allen  introduced  him  to  the  doctor,  he  said:  "Oh, 
yaas,  about  all  I  hear  at  the  dinner  table  now  is  re- 
marks upon  Dr.  Cavallo." 

"You  are,  then,  Mr.  Abbott's  son?1'  inquired  the 
doctor. 

"  Oh,  yaas,"  replied  Cholly,  "  the  governor,  you  know, 
is  awful  hot  about  those  beastly  old  rookeries  that  you 
made  him  tear  down.  Deuced  awkward  job,  you  know." 
Then  turning  around,  "Annie,  I  was  going  to  ask  you 
to  go  and  see  a  game,  you  know." 

"What  is  it,  golf  ?  I  can't,  because  I'm  sick,  and 
I  have  to  stay  in  doors  for  fear  of  catchin'  cold." 

"  Oh,  yaas,  that's  deuced  bad,  you  know.  I  thought 
perhaps  you  might  sit  out  on  the  porch  and  see  the 
tally-ho  go  by.  All  the  club  has  got  horns  and  they 
are  going  out  on  a  lark,  you  know." 

11  Maw,  main't  I  go  just  out  on  the  porch  ;  say  now, 
lemme  go,  maw,"  pleaded  Annie. 

"Will  it  hurt  her,  do  you  think,  doctor  ?" 

"  No,  the  fresh  air  will  do  her  good.  The  more 
she  gets  of  it  the  better  it  will  be  for  her,  if  she  will 
put  on  sufficient  clothing  to  keep  warm." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 63 

"Come,  Cholly,"  chirped  she,  and  taking  him  by 
the  arm,  they  disappeared  through  a  window  that 
opened  out  on  the  porch. 

Mrs.  Allen  looked  after  them  with  motherly  affec- 
tion. Her  matronly  heart  glowed  with  pride,  and  she 
turned  to  the  doctor,  "Are  they  not  a  handsome 
couple?" 

He  bowed  politely,  recalling  the  old  lines,  that  every 
crow  thinks  its  own  crowlets  are  white. 

She  went  on,' "It  is  a  family  secret  yet,  but  they  are 
to  be  married  by  and  by.  Mr.  Abbott  is  anxious  to 
have  the  ceremony  take  place  as  soon  as  possible,  for 
he  wants  Mr.  Allen  to  take  Charley  into  business 
with  him,  but  we  prefer  to  wait  until  Annie  gets  a 
little  stronger.  She  has  such  a  delicate  constitution. 
Charley  is  a  loveable  young  man,  and  so  good.  He 
absolutely  does  not  know  what  evil  is.  He  would 
not  smoke  a  cigar  the  other  evening,  saying  that  it  was 
too  strong  for  him.  All  that  he  will  use  in  this  direc- 
tion are  those  little  weak  paper  things." 

"Good  Heavens,"  thought  Dr.  Cavallo,  "a  cigarette 
fiend."  But  he  was  too  polite  to  interrupt  the  current 
of  Mrs.  Allen's  conversation,  and  she  rippled  along 
with  a  'full  category  of  what  a  splendid  young  man 
"Cholly"  was.  The  doctor  gave  her  instructions 
to  see  that  Miss  Annie  took  her  powders  regularly, 
and  then  he  went  back  to  his  office  musing  upon 
the  fates  that  had  thrown  into  the  laps  of  these  young 
people  wealth  and  luxury,  without  their  having  done 
anything  to  merit  either. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


It  was  nearly  midnight  when  he  was  aroused  by  a 
ring  at  his  office  bell.  He  admitted  the  messenger, 
who  proved  to  be  a  small  negro  lad  greatly  excited. 

"Doctah,  doctah,"  he  panted,  "Miss  Mamie  done 
told  me  to  tell  you  to  come  as  quick  as  you  could  to 
de  house.     One  of  de  girls  is  done  gone  sick." 

"Miss  Mamie.     What  Miss  Mamie?"  he  inquired. 

"  Nothin'  at  all,  but  jist  Miss  Mamie,"  said  the  dar- 
key, "come  quick,  it's  despirt." 

Putting  his  case  into  his  pocket,  the  doctor  told  his 
sable  guide  to  lead  the  way  and  he  followed.  They 
went  across  the  principal  streets  and  at  last  began  to 
go  down  towards  the  river  into  "L"  street.  This 
street,  at  its  lower  end,  was  filled  with  wholesale 
houses,  but  at  the  upper  part  it  led  to  a  blind  end,  and 
little  by  little  the  commercial  houses  had  deserted  it. 
Their  former  places  had  been  taken  up  by  a  new  class 
of  tenants — night-birds,  creepers,  the  parasites  that  in 
every  large  city  gather  in  districts,  keeping  quiet 
during  the  day,  sally  forth  at  night  and  hold  high 
carnival,  reinforced  by  what  the  poet  Milton  calls 
"sons  of  Belial  flown  with  insolence  and  wine."  The 
doctor  followed  his  guide  through  these  streets,  meet- 
ing here  and  there  some  parties  of  revelers.  Many 
of  them  knew  him,  for   they   slunk   into  gutters  and 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  I 65 

alleys  as  he  passed,  pulling  their  hats  down  over  their 
eyes  so  as  to  escape  recognition. 

Little  time  had  he  to  stop  for  the  purpose  of  finding 
who  had  entered  the  domain  of  her  of  whom  Solomon 
says,  "Her steps  take  hold  on  hell,"  but  he  followed 
with  the  air  of  a  man  whose  profession  is  to  minister  to 
all  pain,  no  matter  who  is  the  sufferer.  So  when  the 
colored  lad  stopped  at  one  of  the  houses,  a  little  larger 
and  more  pretentious  than  the  rest,  rang  the  bell, 
then  dodged  around  the  back  way  and  disappeared, 
he  left  the  doctor  alone  before  the  door. 

He  waited  a  moment,  and  then  there  was  a  noise  as 
of  some  one  taking  down  a  bar  and  a  chain.  Then  a 
small  opening  appeared,  and  an  eye  was  seen  at  the 
crevice.  It  looked  as  if  the  scrutiny  was  not  wholly 
satisfactory,  for  this  eye  disappeared  in  turn,  and 
another  one,  the  doctor  judged,  was  taking  its  place. 
Then  a  female  voice  exclaimed,  "  Pshaw !  it's  only  the 
doctor,1'  and  the  door  opened,  and  he  was  told  to 
enter. 

He  found  himself  in  a  hall  dimly  lighted.  The  sole 
occupant  was  a  woman,  well  along  in  middle  life.  She 
was  powerfully  built,  and  she  might  have  been  hand- 
some once,  with  a  coarse,  animal  beauty.  She  bore  the 
aspect  of  a  woman  who  could  fight  all  the  world,  and 
knew  that  she  would  have  to  do  it,  too.  She  was  be- 
dizened with  jewelry,  and  her  face  was  calcimined 
over  with  chalk.  She  stood  in  front  of  him  with  a 
defiant  air,  like  that  of  a  hunted  rat,  as  if  she  did  not 
know  just  what  to  say.     She  broke  forth : 

"Doc,  one  of  the  girls  is  sick.  I  don't  mind  tellin' 
you  that  it's  a  peculiar  case.  If  things  had'nt  been 
just  so,  you  bet  I'd  a  fired  her  to  the  hospital,  only  too 


l66  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

quick,  but  I  can't  in  this  case.  If  I'd  a  knowed  she  was 
goin'  to  be  sick,  I'd  never  tuk  her  in,  but  you  git  sali- 
vated in  this  world  when  ever  you  try  to  do  any  one  a 
kindness.  Leastways  she  is  here  and  on  my  hands,  and 
I  want  her  tuk  care  of,  and  as  soon  as  she  can  git  up 
I'll  ship  her,  but  I  can't  do  it  now,  for  I  don't  want  no 
ambulance  in  front  of  my  door.  It's  dead  bad  luck  to 
have  it,  that's  what  it  is." 

The  doctor  had  already  wearied  of  her  talk,  but  he 
said  "  Where  is  the  young  woman  ?  " 

Putting  her  head  into  the  back  room,  the  landlady 
called  out,  *'  Oh,  Jen,  come  here  and  show  Doc.  upstairs 
to  Mamie's  room.  I  put  her  in  your  room,  Jen,  not 
knowin'  that  she  was  goin'  to  be  sick." 

"That's  a  tough  nut  on  me,"  said  that  young  lady. 

She  was  tall  and  angular.  So  angular  that  she  went 
by  the  name  of  "The  Kangaroo."  Whenever  the  habi- 
tues of  the  place  wanted  a  fight,  it  was  easily  had  by 
calling  this  young  lady  by  this  marsupial  appellation. 

She  simply  said,  "  Well,  come  on,  Doc,  and  I'll  show 
you  the  hospital,"  and  led  the  way  upstairs.  Opening 
a  door,  she  added  u  Here's  old  pills,  himself,"  and  laugh- 
ing at  her  own  wit,  she  went  down  again. 

The  doctor  looked  about  him.  The  room  was  beau- 
tifully furnished,  but  everything  about  it  was  erotic  to 
the  last  degree.  The  pictures  on  the  walls  displayed 
it ;  the  ornaments  on  the  stand  showed  it ;  the  whole 
room  was  strewn  with  paraphernalia,  costly,  extrava- 
gant, heaped  in  profusion  ;  perfumery  bottles,  card 
cases  and  cards,  cut-glass  bottles,  little  brandy  flasks, 
hairpins,  combs,  brushes,  face  powders,  washes,  pastes, 
aids  to  female  beauty,  lotions,  patent  medicines  and 
beautifiers    without    limit ;     portraits   of     actors    and 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I 67 

actresses,  and  of  women  in  various  attitudes  of  greater 
or  less  indecency.  Books  of  the  latest  erotic  ten- 
dency, "Trilby,"  u  The  Quick  and  Dead,"  etc.,  and 
all  the  brood  of  literature,  from  "  Zola  "  down,  were 
on  a  mantel  in  the  room.  The  doctor  did  not  have 
time  to  do  more  than  cast  a  sweeping  glance  around  the 
place,  when  his  eye  was  attracted  to  a  figure  lying  on 
the  bed.  It  was  that  of  a  young  woman,  and  he  saw 
that  she  was  even  then  in  the  death  agony.  She  was 
lying  on  her  back,  but  as  spasm  after  spasm  passed 
over  her,  he  could  see  by  the  expression  of  her  face 
that  her  time  was  short.  He  hastily  took  her  hand, 
but  one  look  was  enough.  He  propped  her  up  in  bed, 
and  taking  his  medicine  case,  gave  her  a  large  dose  of 
digitalis.  Holding  it  to  her  lips,  he  finally  saw  her 
swallow  it,  with  that  feeling  of  pleasure  that  only  the 
practiced  physician  knows.  As  the  drug  began  to 
take  effect,  he  explored  her  pulse,  and  found  that  its 
rapid  beatings  began  to  be  checked.  He  put  his  head 
down,  and  listened  to  the  pulsations  of  her  heart.  The 
grating  noise  partially  died  away. 

Little  by  little  the  woman  opened  her  eyes  and 
looked  at  him.  He  held  a  glass  of  water  to  her  lips. 
She  moaned  feebly  and  said,  "Oh,  why  can't  I  die?" 
Just  then  a  ripple  of  laughter  welled  up  from  one  of 
the  rooms  below,  and  a  voice  said,  "two  come  five." 

The  doctor  soothed  her,  "Do  .not  distress  yourself. 
You  must  not  be  agitated.  Your  recovery  depends 
upon  your  keeping  perfectly  quiet." 

She  cast  her  mournful  eyes  upon  him,  and  asked, 
"Who  wants  to  get  well  ?  Oh,  my  God,  why  can't  I 
see  my  baby  ?  " 

The  doctor's  heart   was  touched.     The  woman  was 


I 68  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

little  better  than  a  girl.  She  was  still  beautiful,  even 
though  worn  and  wasted  to  a  frightful  degree.  Her 
speech  was  correct  and  she  seemed  to  be  a  person 
of  some  refinement.  He  was  moved,  and,  drawing  up 
a  chair,  sat  down  by  her  side  to  feel  her  pulse.  He 
found  it  still  high,  and  so  irregular  that  he  realized 
that  her  time  was  short. 

He  suggested  to  her,  "  If  you  have  any  friends,  I 
would  advise  you  to  get  them." 

She  looked  at  him,  and  great  tears  flowed  down  her 
cheeks.  "  Friends,"  she  wailed,  "  I  am  forsaken  by 
God  and  man.  I  have  no  friends.  I  have  no  husband. 
I  have  no  child.  Oh,  my  God,  why  did  he  take  away 
my  child  ;  why  didn't  he  leave  me  my  baby  ?  " 

The  doctor  asked  her  where  she  left  her  child,  but 
in  reply  she  only  said  :  "  He  took  it,"  and  then  she 
beat  the  pillow  and  fell  back  in  another  spasm. 

Realizing  that  unless  he  could  calm  her  she  would  die, 
Cavallo  lifted  her  up,  gave  her  more  digitalis,  and  at 
last  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her  come  out  of  her 
spasm  and  rest  quietly. 

She  seemed  so  out  of  place  with  the  surroundings, 
that  while  she  was  resting,  the  doctor  tried  to  shut  out 
the  sound  of  laughter  from  below.  A  party  had  poses- 
sion  of  the  parlor,  and  they  were  sending  out  for  re- 
freshments every  few  minutes.  Whenever  the  door 
opened,  their  ribald  laughter  welled  up  into  the  sick 
room,  and  he  was  disturbed  by  it,  but  the  poor  thing 
on  the  bed  before  him  never  moved.  A  fellow  be- 
low sat  down  at  the  piano  and  began  to  sing  a  comic 
song.  Encouraged  by  the  flattering  plaudits  of  his  com- 
panions, he  at  last  struck  into  "  Home,  Sweet  Home," 
singing  it  with  pathos  and  true  melody,  for  there  is  a 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 69 

time  when  men,  in  a  maudlin    condition,    respond  to 
sentiment. 

The  poor  thing  on  the  bed  opened  her  eyes  and 
looked  around,  and  then  a  tear  stole  silently  down  her 
cheek.  "Home,  home,"  she  said,  ;'Oh,  my  God,  why 
can't  I  die  ?  " 

"What  stress  of  fortune  led  you  to  this  horrible 
place  ?  "  the  doctor  kindly  asked. 

She  opened  her  great  mournful  eyes  at  him  and 
said,  "And  you,  too,  believe  me  as  vile  as  the  rest?" 
She  shut  her  eyes  and  turned  her  face  to  the  wall. 

11  My  dear  young  lady,  how  am  I  to  judge  unless  you 
confide  in  me.  Let  me  know  what  the  trouble  is,  and 
let  us  see  if  it  cannot  be  remedied."  She  sobbed,  and 
again  he  told  her  not  to  excite  herself,  but  to  keep 
quiet. 

She  paid  no  attention  to  what  he  said,  but  continued 
to  sob.  At  last  she  moaned,  u  I  am  lost,  body  and 
soul,  because  I  loved  too  blindly.  I  have  been  cast 
down  and  trodden  under  foot,  because  I  believed  what 
I  was  told.  I  have  been  wrecked,  and,  my  God,  my 
little  child  has  been  torn  from  me,  because  I  was  too 
unsuspecting," 

Then  she  turned  her  great  mournful  eyes  full  on 
Cavallo's  face  and  said,  "  Doctor,  do  you  believe  in  a 
hell?" 

"I  believe  that  God  punishes  all  sin,"  he  gravely  re- 
plied. 

"  Then  he  will  not  punish  me,  for  I  have  not  sinned." 

He  looked  at  her  incredulously. 

"No,  I  have  not  sinned.  I  am,  I  have  been,  a  true 
wife.     Before  God,  doctor,  I  have  not  sinned." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


She  relapsed  into  silence.  From  below  came  the 
words,  u  For  he's  a  jolly  good  fellow,  that  nobody 
can  deny." 

"This  is  extraordinary,"  ejaculated  the  doctor  to 
himself,  and  he  added,  "  My  dear  child,  if  it  will  lighten 
your  heart  to  tell  your  story,  let  me  hear  it.  Perhaps 
something  can  be  done  for  you?" 

"The  only  thing  that  can  be  done  for  me  now  is  to 
let  me  die,"  she  said,  bitterly.  "  I  have  been  mur- 
dered, and,  my  God,  I  have  not  deserved  it." 

She  was  seized  with  a  choking  fit.  The  doctor  gave 
her  another  potion,  and  raising  her  up,  placed  the  pil- 
lows behind  her  to  make  her  more  comfortable. 

Then  she  said  :  "It  was  not  my  fault.  I  was  a  clerk 
in  a  store.  We  only  received  four  dollars  a  week, 
but  it  was  enough  to  keep  soul  and  body  together.  I 
was  happy,  although  I  did  not  know  it,  until  this  man 
came  into  my  life.  He  used  to  wait  for  me.  He 
made  me  presents ;  he  said  he  loved  me,  and  I  be- 
lieved him.  He  said  he  would  marry  me,  and  I  was 
flattered  with  his  attentions.  Most  girls  would  be,  for 
his  father  is  rich  and  he  had  plenty  of  money,  and 
he  wanted  to  take  me  out  riding.  He  was  always  very 
kind.  Ihad  all  the  money  that  I  wanted,  and  I  began 
to  dress  better  than  the  rest  of  the  girls,  until  one  day 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I/I 

my  employer  congratulated  me  coarsely  on  what  he 
called  ^my  mash.''  I  was  indignant,  and  asked  what  it 
meant,  and  one  of  the  girls  said,  lWhy,  of  course,  we 
know  how  you  get  these  things.'  I  was  more  indignant, 
and  when  he  came  around  that  evening,  I  told  him  that  he 
must  stop  coming  to  see  me,  for  I  would  not  have  my 
good  name  dragged  around  in  that  way.  He  professed 
that  he  loved  me  and  that  he  was  going  to  marry  me,  but 
that  if  he  did,  his  father  would  cast  him  off  and  that  he 
could  not  make  a  living, —  we'll  be  married  in  secret. 
I  was  young  and  romantic  and  this  suited  me  well 
enough.  So  that  night  he  came  around  to  my  room 
with  a  witness,  one  of  his  chums,  and  drawing  a  ring 
from  his  finger,  he  put  it  on  mine,  and  said,  4I  hereby 
wed  thee  with  this  ring.'  His  companion  said  that  this 
constituted  as  lawful  a  marriage  as  any  that  was  ever 
made  by  a  priest,  and  we  went  into  another  town, 
moved  into  rooms,  and  went  to  living  together.  At 
first  he  was  very  devoted,  then  he  grew  neglectful, 
then  he  was  rough  and  used  to  complain  a  good  deal. 
Then  my  baby  was  born,"  and  here  the  poor  thing 
broke  down  again  and  cried.  rt  Oh,  my  darling  baby. 
Why  can't  they  let  me  see  my  angel  baby  before  I  die? 
Why  am  I  treated  in  this  way?" 

The  doctor  quieted  her  as  best  he  could,  and  she 
went  on :  "  Oh,  doctor,  it  was  awful.  Sometimes  he 
would  go  away  for  weeks,  and  we  got  so  that  we  hardly 
had  enough  to  eat.  The  neighbors  took  pity  on  me  at 
first,  and  then  they  grew  tired  of  it.  I  had  to  sell 
first  one  thing  and  then  another  to  keep  soul  and  body 
together.  My  baby  was  sick,  and  I  could  not  get  any 
one  to  care  for  it.  I  did  everything  until  I  fell  sick, 
too,  and  then  he  took  baby  away,  saying  that  he  would 


172  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

bring  it  back  when  I  grew  strong.  He  never  did,  and 
he  neglected  me  more  and  more,  and  wanted  me  to  go 
still  further  away.  Then  he  brought  me  back  to  this 
place.  I  did  not  know  where  we  were  going,  but  he 
said  that  we  would  go  to  a  boarding-house.  My  God, 
when  I  woke  up  in  the  morning  and  found  out  where  I 
was,  I  thought  that  I  should  die.  When  I  heard  their 
awful  oaths  and  drunken  yells,  I  felt  as  if  I  was  —  I 
didn't  know  where.  They  used  to  laugh  at  me,  but  I 
only  felt  a  more  horrible  sense  of  misery  than  before. 
Once  I  went  out  on  the  street  resolved  to  get  away 
from  it,  but  the  looks  that  I  received,  and  the  jeers 
and  taunts,  and  the  sense  that  I  was  an  outcast,  made 
me  feel  ten  times  worse.  I  said,  ;I  am  lost/  and  I 
crawled  back.  I  was  walled  in  on  every  side.  The 
women,  hardened  as  they  are,  took  pity  on  me.  The 
landlady  said,  '  Let  her  alone,  I'll  make  her  fellow  pay 
for  her  lodging,  never  you  mind.'  And  she  has  given 
me  lodging  and  food,  but  the  very  horror  of  the  sur- 
roundings has  almost  driven  me  mad.  I  kept  hid- 
den in  the  back  part  of  the  house  until  I  grew  worse, 
and  then  I  was  brought  in  here." 

The  doctor  was  indignant.  Such  rascality  he  did  not 
think  existed  in  the  world.  "Who  is  your  husband? 
for  such  in  the  sight  of  God  he  is." 

She  made  no  reply. 

"Can  you  find  it  in  your  heart  to  shield  a  man  who 
has  so  wronged  you?"  he  asked,  sternly  "Tell  me 
who  he  is  ?  " 

She  said  nothing,  only  turned  her  face  to  the  wall, 
and  the  silent  tears  stole  down  her  cheeks  again. 

He  paced  the  floor  with  burning  wrath.  Here  was  a 
young  woman  who  had  been  foully  wronged,  who  had 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 73 

been  deceived  and  maltreated,  and  killed  by  inches 
through  neglect  and  cruelty,  and  yet  her  love  for  the 
wretch  was  still  so  strong  that  she  would  not  reveal  his 
name,  lest  he  should  suffer  loss  of  social  position. 
"Love  is  stronger  than  death,"  he  said  to  himself. 
He  was  revolving  in  his  own  mind  what  he  should  do 
in  the  matter,  when  he  heard  the  door  below  open,  and 
a  voice  say,  as  the  owner  came  into  the  hall,  "I  had  a 
devil  of  a  time  getting  here  ;  all  of  the  fellows  wanted 
me  to  stay,  you  know,  and  I  had  to  fool  them.  Where 
is  the  gang?  Having  a  little  game?  Order  up  the 
wine,  and  tell  Josie  that  I  am  here." 

At  the  sound  of  his  voice  the  dying  woman  opened 
her  eyes  and  murmured  one  word,  "  Charley." 

Doctor  Cavallo  walked  down  the  stairs  and  con- 
fronted, face  to  face  —  Charley  Abbott. 

The  latter  looked  at  him  with  surprise.  Then  a 
glance  of  recognition  came  over  him  and  he  laughed  : 
"I  say,  Doc,  I  didn't  know  that  you  was  a  rounder, 
too.     Put  it  there,  old  head,1'  holding  out  his  hand. 

Dr.  Cavallo  frowned  on  the  licentiate  and  was  mag- 
nificent in  his  wrath,  but,  smothering  his  hot  indigna- 
tion, he  said,  rt  Charley  Abbott,  come  with  me." 

The  debauchee  laughed  at  first.  Then  he  said, 
"What  for,"  and  then  he  began  to  turn  pale.  "Oh,  I 
say,"  he  whimpered,  rt  no  tricks,  you  know.  No  snap 
game.  I'll  do  anything  that's  square.  I  never  go  back 
on  an  old  friend.     Say,  what's  up?  " 

Dr.  Cavallo  paid  no  attention  to  his  words,  but  made 
way  for  him,  and  as  he  pattered  upstairs,  followed  after 
him.  He  paused  at  the  door,  but  the  doctor  simply 
scowled  at  him,  and  he  opened  it  and  entered  the 
room. 


174  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

The  sick  woman  lifted  her  eyes  and  looked  at  him. 

A  man  whose  life  is  evil  and  whose  acts  are  atro- 
cious, is  generally  feebly  sympathetic.  He  melts  at 
once,  although  half  an  hour  afterwards  he  may  forget 
all  about  it.  He  makes  ten  thousand  promises  to  re- 
form, and  then  he  fails  to  do  anything  in  that  direc- 
tion. Charley  Abbott  was  one  of  these  fellows.  He 
was  weak  and  wicked,  for  he  had  no  moral  balance. 
He  did  the  easiest  thing  at  the  moment.  If  it  took  a 
lie  to  get  out  of  it,  he  would  lie.  If  he  could  get  out  of 
by  running  away,  he  would  run.  As  soon  as  he  saw  his 
old  love  he  melted  at  once,  and,  going  to  the  bed,  he 
broke  into  tears. 

"Oh,  Charley,"  cried  she,  "you  have  come  back  at 
last." 

"I  have,"  he  sobbed,  "and  I  will  never  leave  you  any 
more.  I  will  recognize  you  as  my  wife,  and  nobody 
shall  part  us." 

44  What  have  you  done  with  our  baby,  Charley?" 

"It's  at  the  Home  of  the  Friendless,"  he  blurted 
out.     "  I  will  bring  it  back.     I  will  acknowledge  it." 

He  went  over  and  over  this,  and  he  was  working 
himself  into  suth  a  condition  that  Cavallo  felt  that  he 
ought  to  interpose  for  he  could  see  that  the  effect  of 
the  digitalis  that  he  had  given  his  patient  was  growing 
less  and  the  excitement  would  kill  her,  so  he  said, 
"What  do  you  intend  doing?" 

"I  am  willing  to  marry  her"  I  —  will.  I — will  do 
it  —  now.     I  will  go  and  get  a  license  at  once." 

So  saying,  he  went  down  stairs  and  they  could  hear 
him  getting  into  a  hack  and  driving  away  with  great 
speed. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


When  he  was  gone  Dr.  Cavallo  breathed  a  great  sigh 
of  relief.  He  did  not  believe  that  he  would  return, 
but  the  doctor  had  learned  enough,  and  was  determined 
to  see  that  the  child  was  provided  for.  In  the  mean- 
time he  made  the  sick  woman  as  comfortable  as  possi- 
ble and  sat  down  to  wait  for  the  strange  denouement. 
The  laughter  in  the  room  below  grew  louder,  so  he 
left  his  patient  in  a  doze  and  went  down  to  silence  it. 

The  door  was  half  open  and  he  stepped  in.  Gathered 
around  the  table  were  half  a  dozen  youths,  among  them 
the  sons  of  some  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the 
city.  Each  had  a  girl  next  him  and  a  glass  in  front  of 
them.  Whenever  they  lost  at  poker,  for  they  were 
playing  u  freeze  out,"  everyone  took  a  drink.  It  was 
the  duty  of  each  girl  to  see  that  her  "  fellow  "  had  his 
glass  filled  and  emptied.  If  he  failed  to  do  this  she 
drank  the  contents  herself.  Just  as  the  doctor  entered, 
one  of  the  players  called  to  his  companion,  M  Bill,  order 
up  another  bottle  of  wine." 

a  Not  mush,"  said  the  other,  •'  beer  at  a  dollar  a 
bottle  is  rich  enough  for  your  blood,  and  I'll  match 
you  to  see  who  pays  for  it." 

This  witticism  was  greeted  with  a  burst  of  laughter. 

"  No,"  said  the  other,  "  I'll  cut  the  cards." 

Cavallo  looked  about  him  in  disgust.     The  girls  were 


I76  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

smoking  cigarettes,  and  three  of  them  were  chewing 
tobacco.  They  had  all  been  drinking  beer  to  the  point 
almost  of  stupid  saturation.  They  were  young  things, 
the  eldest  not  more  than  eighteen,  but  they  already 
began  to  look  like  hags,  for  it  is  the  pace  that  kills,  and 
these  girls  had  been  guilty  of  the  worst  excesses.  They 
presented,  even  in  their  tawdry  finery  and  their  low-cut, 
decollette  dresses,  little  of  the  fascination  of  vice.  In 
truth,  but  for  the  intoxication  that  dulls  the  sense,  not  one 
of  the  gilded  youths  would  have  given  any  one  of  them 
a  second  thought.  The  girls  came  out  of  the  gutter, 
that  was  easy  to  see.  Their  conversation  was  a  mixture 
of  oaths  and  ribaldry,  of  bad  grammar  and  coarse  talk. 
This  is  the  product  that  the  slums  breed.  The  strange 
thing  about  it  is,  that  it  recruits  its  ranks  so  rapidly, 
for  the  death-rate  among  these  children  of  the  slums 
is  appalling.  They  last,  on  an  average,  less  than  two 
years.  Their  life,  carousing  all  night  and  sleeping  by 
day,  the  amount  of  stimulants  that  they  absorb,  their 
love  for  narcotics,  morphine  and  chloral,  sweeps  them 
into  the  grave  like  flies.  As  the  doctor  looked  at  the 
<k  Kangaroo,"  as  she  was  called  by  one  of  the  party,  he 
saw  with  his  practised  eye  that  she  had  pulmonary 
trouble,  and  that  her  days  were  numbered. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  party  were  having  what 
they  would  call  "  fun,"  there  was  a  melancholy  cast  over 
the  whole  group.  The  young  fellows  cut  the  cards, 
trying  to  be  gay,  and  uttering  filthy  jokes,  but  there 
was  weariness  and  a  blase  air  about  the  whole  table. 
They  had  drank  and  smoked  until  they  were  actually 
stupid,  and  there  was  little  in  their  conversation  but 
oaths,  and  even  the  witticims  were  stale,  far-fetched 
and  simply  vulgar,  with  not  even  the  spark  of  freshness 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I 77 

to  give  them  point.  Everything  about  the  room  was 
tawdry  and  flashy.  The  girls,  dressed  in  Mother  Hub- 
bards,  looked  hard  and  callous.  They  had  their 
little  by-plays,  and  when  the  chips  of  one  of  the  players 
was  exhausted,  they  all  clamored  to  be  allowed  to  get 
the  bottle  of  beer  which  he  had  lost.  It  meant  a  com- 
mission to  the  poor  thing  that  got  it,  for  part  of  the 
fascination  to  young  men  in  this  company  is,  that  the 
female  creatures  are,  for  the  time,  their  slaves.  There 
is  a  sense  of  superiority  in  the  mind  of  the  poor  dude, 
who  can  order  them  about,  and  have  them  call  him  by 
a  term  of  endearment.  Vapid  as  he  is,  he  finds  here 
some  one  who  will  flatter  him,  wait  upon  him,  fondle 
him,  as  long  as  his  money  holds  out,  and  make  much 
of  him. 

In  this  society  all  the  conditions  of  the  outer  world 
are  reversed,  for  it  is  the  man  here  who  must  be  true  ; 
the  woman  is  expected  to  be  false,  and  to  practise 
falsity  as  a  profession.  It  is  a  horrible  travesty  upon 
natural  conditions,  a  world  where  everything  is  wrong 
side  out  and  reversed.  All  this  Dr.  Cavallo  saw  in  his 
mind's  eye  as  he  glanced  around  the  room. 

The  young  fellows  who  were  sitting  at  the  table  play- 
ing cards  were  all  well  brought  up,  and  were  "  taking 
in  the  town."  It  is  this  class  of  boys  in  our  cities,  who 
come  up  rapidly,  sow  their  wild  oats,  and  in  the  sowing, 
reap  a  crop  of  disease  and  death  that  sweeps  them  into 
their  graves  before  their  time.  It  is  a  stygian  pit,  a 
nest  of  horrors,  where  drunkenness  and  disease,  and 
filth  and  want,  and  misery  and  crime  hold  high  revel. 

Only  those  who  have  never  seen  it,  paint  this  life  in 
brilliant  colors,  for,  in  sober  truth,  there  is  nothing 
brilliant  and  pleasant  about  it.     If  it  were  not  for  the 


I78  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

intoxicants  accompanying  it,  no  one  would  seek  in  its 
depths  for  companionship  or  solace. 

When  the  glamor  is  stripped  from  it,  the  house  of 
Venus  is  like  the  cave  of  Thomas  the  Rhymer,  where, 
after  the  enchantment  was  over,  the  queen  was  a  filthy 
old  hag ;  the  palace,  a  dismal  cave  ;  the  ornaments, 
dead  men's  bones  ;  and  the  silks  only  rotting  seaweed. 
Pleasure  is  elusive,  and  it  nowhere  flees  the  pursuer 
quicker  than  when  he  seeks  it  in  the  purlieus  of  lust. 
The  fools  are  those  who  seek  to  make  it  poetic,  when 
it  is  base,  sordid  and  filthy. 

Dr.  Cavallo  did  not  moralize.  He  only  cast  an 
angry  glance  around  the  room,  and  said,  "Gentlemen," 

At  the  sound  of  his  voice  they  all  started,  and  the 
girls  dropped  their  cigarrettes. 

u  There  is  a  sick  woman  up  stairs,  and  I  would  like 
to  have  you  make  a  little  less  noise." 

"It's  Charley  Abbott's  woman,  she's  sick,"  explained 
one  of  the  nymphs. 

"Well,  this  isn't  exactly  the  place  that  I  would 
select  for  a  hospital,"  remarked. one  of  the  boys,  "but 
we'll  dry  up,  Doc.     It's  late,  anyhow." 

The  doctor  went  upstairs  to  his  patient.  The  poor 
thing  had  fallen  into  a  doze  when  the  hack  came 
back,  and,  greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  the  doctor, 
Abbott  came  with  it,  but  alone.  He  said:  "There 
is'nt  a  clergyman,  nor  a  justice  of  the  peace,  that  I  can 
get  to  marry  us.     We'll  have  to  wait  until  to-morrow." 

"Then  it  will  be  too  late,"  returned  Cavallo. 

He  thought  that  he  detected  callous  indifference  in 
Abbott's  looks.  The  thought  of  the  motherless  and 
fatherless  little  child  in  the  Home  for  the  Friendless 
gave  him  an  inspiration.  "Wait  here,1'  he  returned, 
"and  I  will  get  you  a  clergyman." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 79 

He  went  out  to  the  hack  and  dispatched  a  note  to 
the  rabbi,  asking  him  to  get  into  the  carriage  and  come 
at  once,  without  asking  any  question.  Then  they  sat 
down  and  waited.  Charley  fell  asleep,  so  soon  did 
his  good  intentions  evaporate.  The  sick  girl  stirred 
feebly  and  moaned  once  or  twice.  As  the  moments 
drifted  by,  the  doctor  wondered  what  Margaret  would 
say,  when  she  heard  of  the  part  that  he  had  taken 
in  this  affair.  While  his  thoughts  took  this  diiection, 
the  carriage  came  back,  and  he  went  down  and  ad- 
mitted his'friend. 

The  latter  inquired,  "What  in  the  world  is  the  matter 
that  you  should  want  me  to  come  to  this  place  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  ?  " 

"  Rabbi,"  said  Cavallo  gravely,  "  the  future  of  a  soul 
is  at  stake.'1 

They  ascended  the  stairs  together,  and  the  doctor 
went  to  the  sick  bed.  Gently  awakening  the  sick  girl, 
he  told  her  that  a  minister  had  come,  and  that  if  she 
felt  strong  enough  he  would  unite  her  and  Abbott  in 
marriage.  He  added,  "You  know  that  it  is  not  on  his 
account  that  I  do  this,  but  for  your  child." 

She  gave  him  a  look  of  gratitude. 

He  propped  her  up  in  the  bed,  joining  their 
hands,  while  the  rabbi  pronounced  the  words  that 
made  them  man  and  wife. 

11  My  baby,"  she  gasped. 

Charley  burst  into  a  passion  of  tears,  vowing  that  he 
would  take  care  of  it,  and  acknowledge  it,  and  see 
that  it  was  provided  for.  He  made  a  thousand  pro- 
testations that  he  would  reform,  that  he  never  meant 
to  do  a  mean  thing,  and  that  he  wanted  to  turn  over  a 
new  leaf  and  quit  all  these  low  fellows.     His  outbursts 


180  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

were  lost  on  the  doctor,  but  not  so  on  his  wife. 
She  clung  to  him  and  did  not  want  to  let  him  go. 
Something  of  the  old  spirit  came  out  at  the  last  moment. 
In  vain  the  doctor  warned  her  that  the  scene  was  too 
exciting,  and  tried  to  part  them.  The  suggestion  excited 
her.  She  kept  asking  for  her  baby  and  wanting  to 
have  it  in  her  arms  before  she  died.  She  was  told  that 
she  could  have  it  in  the  morning,  but  that  she  must 
keep  quiet.  The  paroxyisms  returned  and  kept  grow- 
ing more  violent.  The  doctor  informed  -them  that 
she  was  dying,  but  this  only  increased  Abbott's 
tears,  and  he  began  to  exhibit  positive  hysterics.  He 
bewailed  his  past  life  and  his  surroundings.  The 
scene  became  painful.  The  news  that  the  girl  was 
dying  was  noised  about  the  house  and  the  girls  in  the 
adjoining  rooms  came  flocking  in,  in  their  dishevelled 
dresses,  and  some  of  them  were  in  a  half  intoxicated 
condition,  adding  a  weird  picture  to  the  scene.  As  the 
paroxyisms  of  the  dying  woman  grew  stronger,  they 
shared  in  the  feeling  through  sympathy  and  began  to 
shriek  and  moan,  and  break  out  into  exclamations. 
Then  the  rabbi  commanded  silence,  offering  that 
beautiful  prayer  for  the  dead  that  forms  a  part  of  the 
Hebrew  service  ;  and  with  her  hand  clasped  in  that  of 
Abbott's,  the  spirit  of  his  poor  injured  wife  passed 
away. 

The  dawn  was  breaking  over  the  east  as  Dr.  Cavallo 
and  the  rabbi  walked  away  from  the  house  of  sin,  now 
the  house  of  death.     They  were  both  deep  in  thought. 

"  I  have  been  at  the  side  of  many  death  beds,"  said 
he,  4tbut  a  wedding  and  a  death  in  such  a  place  I  hope 
never  to  see  again." 


CHAPTER   XXVL 


The  next  morning  the  city  was  ablaze  with  excite- 
ment. The  occurences  of  the  night  before  had  taken 
place  too  late  for  the  morning  papers,  but  the  news  of 
Abbott's  marriage  flew  far  and  wide.  All  sorts  of  ver- 
sions were  given,  but  that  most  commonly  accepted 
was  that  Dr.  Cavallo,  in  revenge  for  the  spite  exhibited 
against  him  by  Abbott,  had  entrapped  his  son  Charley 
into  a  house  of  ill-fame,  and  had  compelled  him  to 
marry  a  girl  there.  The  part  that  the  rabbi  had  taken 
in  performing  the  ceremony  was  dilated  upon,  and  it 
was  said  that  no  Christian  minister  would  lend  himself 
to  this  infamous  plot. 

The  afternoon  paper  that  had  sneered  at  Cavallo's 
work  in  cleaning  out  the  "  Row"  came  out  with  flaming 
headlines  entitled  "A  Jew  Trick"  and  depicted  the 
virtues  ot  Charley  Abbott,  the  philanthrophy  of  his 
father,  the  grief  of  his  mother,  and  then  hinting  at 
something  mysterious,  described  the  agony  of  the  fair 
young  girl  whom  Charley  Abbott  was  soon  to  lead  to 
the  altar  and  whose  life  was  now  blighted  forever. 
This  article  added  fuel  to  the  flames  and  the  city  was 
soon  divided  into  two  hostile  camps.  Seidel  bestirred 
himself  and  induced  Kinofsky  to  start  a  paper 
protesting  against  the  action  of  the  rabbi  and 
Cavallo.    He  got  Nagle  to  sign  this  after  Kinofsky,  and 


I 82  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Abramovitz  followed.  Then  they  took  it  to  the 
Weiner  Brothers.  These  two  kept  a  clothing  store  and 
they  were  in  mortal  fear  that  they  would  do  something 
to  hurt  their  trade.  This  was  the  whole  of  their  idea. 
Anything  that  kept  people  out  of  their  store  was  an 
evil,  anything  that  brought  them  in  was  a  benefit. 
When  Kinofsky  told  them  that  this  action  of  the 
rabbi's  would  arouse  fishes  (prejudice),  they  signed 
the  protest. 

So  did  Joseph  Levinsky,  who  also  kept  a  clothing 
store.  He  had  long  since  withdrawn  from  the  congre- 
gation and  did  not  even  contribute  to  the  charities  of 
his  people.  On  the  contrary,  he  put  Christmas  trees 
in  his  window  to  catch  trade,  and  gave  little  boys  base 
ball  bats  when  they  bought  their  suits  of  him.  He 
would  have  signed  a  petition  to  exterminate  all  the 
Jews  but  himself,  if  he  was  sure  that  it  would  not  be 
applied  to  him. 

Then  Seidel  proceeded  to  develop  a  new  plot. 

Fearing  that  Cavallo  would  expose  his  mining 
scheme,  he  conceived  a  plan  by  which  he  hoped  to 
drive  him  out  of  the  city.  He  induced  some  Jew- 
baiters  to  call  a  meeting  in  a  public  hall,  to  which,  they 
invited  "All  citizens  who  deplore  the  late  scandalous 
proceedings  as  calculated  to  cast  a  blot  upon  the  fair 
fame  of  our  city.1' 

Mr.  Herman  was  greatly  disturbed.  He  was  a  peace- 
loving  man,  and  he  deplored  these  occurrences  as  calcu- 
lated to  breed  hate  and  to  stir  up  religious  strife,  so  he 
called  upon  Dr.  Cavallo  to  expostulate  with  him.  He 
found  the  doctor  in  a  condition  of  righteous  wrath,  but 
dignified,  uncompromising  and  determined.  He  had 
done  nothing  but  what  was  right,  and   he  stood  upon 


DOCTOR   CWALLO  1 83 

that  ground.  Young  Abbott  had,  of  his  own  accord, 
chosen  to  right  a  great  wrong  which  he  had  perpetrated, 
and  give  his  name  to  an  innocent  child,  of  whose 
parentage  there  was  no  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

If  it  was  a  crime  to  see  this  done,  to  assist  a  poor 
soul  in  her  last  death  agony  and  rescue  another  soul 
from  the  slums,  so  be  it.  He  was  quite  ready  to  meet 
the  charge,  and  more,  he  would  see  that  the  young  wife 
was  accorded  a  decent  burial. 

In  this  lofty  style  he  met  every  assault  that  was 
made  upon  him.  He  hunted  up  Kinofsky,  and  told 
him  that  he  need  not  attack  the  rabbi,  for  the  act  for 
which  that  gentleman  was  censured  was  his  alone,  and 
he  gave  Kinofsky  such  a  scoring  that  he  was  abashed, 
and  stammered  that  he  would  stop  circulating  the 
paper. 

Then  the  doctor  went  to  the  house  of  death,  and  saw 
that  the  last  sad  rites  were  paid  to  the  late  Mrs.  Abbott. 
Charley  had  left  word  that  he  would  pay  the  bill,  and 
the  undertaker  had  provided  a  beautiful  casket.  He 
deliberated  long  as  to  whether  he  should  attend  the 
funeral  as  chief  mourner,  and  follow  his  wife  to  the 
grave,  but  the  uproar  in  the  city  was  so  great  that  he 
shrank  from  facing  it.  And  at  the  last  moment,  when 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go,  and  take  the. child,  and 
show  the  little  thing  its  mother,  his  father  peremptorily 
forbade  him  to  stir ;  and  he  was  still  so  much  under 
the  influence  of  the  old  man,  who  was  furious  over  his 
son's  action,  that  Charley  desisted  and  remained  at  his 
own  home. 

When  the  doctor  went  to  the  house  no  one  was  in 
sight,  but  the  door  was  open  and  he  entered,  and  pass- 
ing into  the  front  room,  saw  that  the  undertaker  was 


I 84  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

alone  with  the  dead.  All  the  evidences  of  last  night's 
revel  had  been  removed,  and  everything  out  of  charac- 
ter with  the  solemn  time  had  been  taken  away.  The 
doctor  noted  this  with  a  feeling  of  relief.  Very  lovely 
the  poor  girl  looked  in  the  casket.  The  hunted  look 
was  gone,  and  on  the  features,  though  worn  and  wasted, 
rested  an  expression  of  perfect  peace.  Her  glorious 
hair  filled  the  casket,  and  her  lips,  slightly  parted, 
showed  the  pearly  teeth. 

As  the  doctor  looked  down  upon  the  form  prepared 
for  its  final  home,  he  was  amazed  at  the  bewitching 
beauty  before  him,  for  he  realized  what  she  must  have 
been  when  in  the  full  bloom  of  maidenhood.  No 
wonder  that  she  attracted  the  fancy  of  such  as  Abbott, 
the  doctor  thought. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  service,  the  aged 
and  venerable  rabbi  assembled  the  household.  The 
landlady  gathered  the  girls  together.  They  had  made 
some  attempt  to  show  their  respect  for  the  occa- 
sion, and,  although  they  had  donned  their  soberest 
garb,  the  finery  revealed  itself  here  and  there,  in  taw- 
dry touches  that  made  their  presence  in  the  house  of 
death  still  more  outre.  As  the  rabbi  dwelt  upon  the 
uncertainty  of  life  and  the  awful  mystery  of  death  one 
after  another  of  his  auditors  broke  out  into  tears  and 
wailings.-  The  excitement  increased  until  the  room 
was  filled  with  the  sound  of  sobbing  women  and  peni- 
tents, crying  and  asserting  that  they  wanted  to  reform, 
asservations  writ  in  water  and  soon  to  be  obliterated  by 
the  first  opportunity  for  revelry. 

For  these  people  are  emotional,  easily  stirred  to 
tears,  and  easily  depressed.  Between  nights  of  wassail* 
they  relapse  into  days  of  gloom,  when  they  fly  to  mor- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  1 85 

phine  for  solace,  and  when  the  fit  of  remorse  proves  too 
great  for  mastery,  they  find  refuge  in  the  grave  of  the 
suicide. 

Dr.  Cavallo  had  encountered  so  many  of  these  scenes 
that  they  made  no  impression  upon  him,  but  the  rabbi 
was  greatly  moved.  He  was  unaccustomed  to  such 
sights,  and,  as  they  concluded  the  services  and  watched 
the  undertaker  carry  away  the  remains  to  the  ceme- 
tery, he  linked  his  arm  in  that  of  the  doctor  and  said, 
"Great  good  ought  to  come  out  of  this  to  those  in- 
mates." 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  the  other.  "They  will  forget 
all  about  it  in  a  day." 

"  I  should  think  that  it  would  make  an  everlasting 
impression  upon  them,"  returned  the  rabbi. 

"  No.  The  distinguishing  trait  of  these  people  is  their 
lack  of  memory.  They  are  creatures  of  impulse.  They 
forget  to-day  what  was  told  them  yesterday.  They 
yield  to  every  new  whim.  Like  the  gnats  that  dance 
in  the  sunbeam,  they  are  carried  away  with  every  shift- 
ing breeze.  From  the  days  of  Rahab,  who  took  in  the 
spies  on  the  wall,  they  are  always  attracted  by  new 
faces  and  new  impressions.  Just  as  she  betrayed  her 
own  people,  so  they  will  forsake  any  old  admirer  for  a 
new  one.    The  badge  of  their  tribe  is  their  inconstancy." 

"Is  there  no  hope  for  them?" 

"Anything  that  exists,  and  that  has  always  existed, 
is  not  to  be  removed  by  a  momentary  plaster.  To 
change  this  condition,  needs  a  profound  remedy  ap- 
plied to  the  very  foundations  of  society.  That  this 
will  come  at  some  time  I  firmly  believe,  because  the 
passion  that  makes  it,  lies  at  the  very  root  of  our  ani- 
mal nature,  but  it  is  not  to  be  accomplished  by  indi- 
vidual effort  applied  to  individual  cases." 


CHAPTER  XXVII, 


They  parted  on  the  street  corner  and  the  doctor 
went  to  his  office.  He  could  see  the  signs  of  the 
gathering  storm  against  him,  but  he  cared  little,  for  his 
nature  was  such  that  he  welcomed  a  contest  where  he 
knew  he  was  in  the  right.  He  passed  Nagle  on  the 
street.  As  he  approached,  the  grin  on  that  indi- 
vidual's face  widened  and  deepened.  The  sneer  on  his 
countenance,  that  was  now  habitual,  spread  until  it 
looked  as  if  his  mouth  would  swallow  up  his  face. 
The  recognition  that  he  gave  the  doctor  could  be 
taken  for  either  triumphant  defiance  or  malicious  de- 
light at  having  overreached  him.  The  doctor  did  not 
know  with  which  to  class  it.  He  only  thought  to  him- 
self, u  Nagle,  if  you  are  wise,  you  will  never  do  anything 
for  which  you  will  have  to  answer  before  a  jury.  That 
mouth  and  grin  will  hang  you  without  a  chance  for  re- 
prieve." 

With  it  all  Cavallo  felt  a  sense  of  confidence.  The 
gage  of  battle  had  been  thrown  down.  He  had 
picked  it  up  and  was  ready  for  the  strife. 

As  he  entered  his  office  a  small  boy  brought  him  a 
note.  He  saw  that  it  was  in  Margaret's  handwriting, 
and  tore  it  open.  It  was  not  signed  and  only  con- 
tained a  quotation  from  an  old  English  poet.  It  began, 
"  Stand  firm." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  187 

41  Glorious  girl,"  he  said.     *  Yes,  I  will  stand  firm/' 
He    walked    out  and  saw  a  crowd   around    a   hand 
bill  that  had  just  been  pasted   up.     It  read  : 

NOTICE. 


ALL  PERSONS  WHO  BELIEVE  IN  CHRISTIAN  RULE  AND   WHO 
ARE   OPPOSED   TO 


JEW  METHODS 


ARE    REQUESTED   TO  MEET  IN   WILKES    HALL,  WEDNESDAY 
EVENING   AT    HALF   PAST    EIGHT. 


ABLE   SPEAKERS   WILL    BE    PRESENT. 

He  read  this  over  and  then  he  took  a  long  breath, 
saying  to  himself,  "And  among  the  speakers  will  be 
Dr.  Cavallo." 

Then  he  attended  to  his  regular  practice.  He  found 
some  of  his  patients  exceedingly  cool  and  they  dis- 
missed him,  but  for  this  he  cared  little.  He  went 
home,  and  laying  down,  he  slept  a  sleep  unbroken  by 
dreams. 

The  day  following,  the  morning  papers  came  out 
with  their  accounts  of  the  marriage.  They  toned  down 
the  scene  a  good  deal  from  the  excited  statement  of 
the  afternoon  press,  and  one  of  them  gave  Abbott  a 
severe  scoring,  but  none  of  them  dared  say  a  word  for 
Cavallo,  but  took  the  ground  that  he  was  actuated  by  a 
desire  to  get  even  with  Abbott.  One  of  the  editors 
even  grew  jocular,  and  reminded  Abbott  that  when  he 
woke  up  one  of  God's  chosen  people,  he  ought  to  have 
been  aware  that  he  was  fooling  with  the  business  end 
of  a  hornet,  and  that  when  the  Lord  gave  His  people 


188  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  heathen  for  an  inheritance,  Presbyterians  were  not 
excepted. 

On  the  whole,  the  feeling  against  the  doctor  was  in- 
creased, rather  than  diminished,  by  the  morning 
papers.  The  afternoon  paper  made  a  flaming  appeal 
for  a  full  attendance  at  the  meeting,  and  as  night  came 
on  he  could  see  little  knots  of  men  gathered  in  the 
streets  discussing  and  arguing,  but  as  they  invariably 
lowered  their  voices  at  his  approach,  he  could  feel  that 
the  current  of  opinion  was  against  him.  Just  at  dusk 
he  received  a  call  by  telephone,  asking  him  to  come 
down  to  "Trent's"  to  see  a  man  who  had  been  injured 
in  a  factory  by  getting  caught  in  a  machine.  The 
sender  begged  him  to  be  quick. 

"Trent's"  was  a  boarding  house,  near  the  river,  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  city,  but  there  was  quite  an  inter- 
val between  it  and  the  nearest  houses,  a  wide  open 
space,  owned  by  an  old  fellow  who  would  neither 
improve  nor  sell  it. 

The  doctor  looked  at  his  watch.  It  was  six  o'clock. 
He  had  plenty  of  time  to  see  his  patient  and  get  back 
to  the  meeting.  True,  he  would  miss  his  supper,  but 
that  did  not  trouble  him.  He  boarded  the  street  car, 
rode  down  opposite  Trent's,  and,  getting  off,  walked 
slowly  towards  the  boarding  house.  He  had  nearly 
crossed  the  open  field  when  he  heard  a  noise  behind 
him,  and  he  became  aware  that  he  was  followed.  A 
gang  of  men  and  half  grown  boys  were  dogging  his 
footsteps.  As  they  approached  nearer,  he  heard  half 
muttered  exclamations  and  growls,  and  as  they  came 
still  closer  he  recognized  one  voice.  It  said,  "  Kill  the 
domn'd  Jew.'1 

The  doctor  said  to  himself,  "  Mike  O'Hara." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


As  he  faced  around  he  saw  that  he  was  caught.  In 
front  of  him  was  the  mob.  Behind  him  was  only  a 
barn.  If  he  attempted  to  escape  he  would  be  run 
down  on  either  side.  He  had  no  pistol  and  only  a  small 
knife  in  his  medicine  case.  The  mob,  evidently  ex- 
pecting that  he  would  try  to  run,  had  spread  out  in  a 
sort  of  half  circle,  to  hedge  him  in,  and  they  now 
gathered  around,  as  he  stopped  and  faced  them,  and 
they  began  to  jeer. 

The  doctor  smiled  disdainfully.  "There  isn't  a  rock 
or  a  brick-bat  in  the  whole  crowd." 

In  the  gathering  gloom  he  knew  that  his  greatest 
danger  lay  in  being  hit  on  the  head  with  a  stone.  With 
this  danger  removed,  he  felt  relieved  to  see  that  they 
were  mostly  armed  with  sticks,  and  that  Mike,  the 
leader,  had  a  large  club. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  in  great  danger,  for  if  they  all 
closed  in,  and  he  was  once  knocked  down,  they  would 
jump  on  him,  and  speedily  kick  him  to  death. 

They  began  to  howl  like  wolves,  and  the  burden  of 
their  jibes  was,  "  Jew,  Jew." 

He  calculated. 

Mike  was  the  leader,  that  was  plain.  He  had  not 
forgotten  that  he  had  once  received  a  knock  on  the 
head  on  the  doctor's  account,  and  it  was  evident  that 
something  beside  that  urged  him  on. 


190  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

The  call  over  the  telephone  was  not  Mike's  voice. 
There  was  a  conspiracy.  Was  it.  Nagle,  or  Seidel,  or 
Abbott  ? 

A  mob  is  always  cowardly,  and  the  doctor,  in  facing 
his  foes,  had  non-plussed  them.  If  they  could  have 
found  bricks  or  stones,  his  career  would  have  been 
short,  but  the  open  plain  was  covered  with  a  sod,  and 
this  had  been  eaten  off  short  by  the  cattle  that  some  of 
the  people  kept  and  herded  on  it.  If  they  overpow- 
ered him,  it  would  be  by  hitting  him  with  a  club. 

The  doctor  braced  up  against  the  little  barn,  and 
waited  for  the  attack. 

Mike  took  the  initiative.  He  advanced  with  his 
club  in  the  air. 

"Ah,  ha,"  said  he,  "ye  domn'd  Jew,  I'll  fix  ye." 

An  untrained  man  does  not  know  how  to  use  a  club. 
He  always  strikes  overhead,  and  after  delivering  one 
blow  he  is  helpless.  The  only  fear  that  the  doctor  had 
was  that  half  a  dozen  might  strike  him  at  once. 

When  he  left  his  office  he  had  deliberated.  It  looked 
as  if  it  might  rain,  and  he  had  taken  his  umbrella  from 
its  rack.  Then  he  had  put  it  back,  and,  in  its  stead,  he 
had  taken  a  light  walking  cane.  It  was  small,  but  stiff, 
and  was,  in  the  hands  of  an  ordinary  man,  worse  than 
no  weapon  at  all,  for  at  the  first  blow  it  would  break 
over  the  assailant's  head.  But  it  had  a  steel  ferule  at 
the  end,  and  the  doctor,  passing  it  through  his  hands, 
said,  "  It  will  do." 

He  had  been  a  great  fencer  in  the  university,  and  he 
smiled  to  himself  as  he  saw  Mike  break  loose  from 
his  companions  and  steadily  advance  with  his  great 
club  uplifted  in  the  air.  They  waited  to  see  the  out- 
come, for  a  mob  must  have  a  leader.     If  Mike  knocked 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  I9I 

him  down  they  would  speedily  join  in  and  finish  the 
work  with  their  boots  and  sticks,  but  they  would  not 
begin  the  attack. 

Mike  grinned  to  himself  to  see  the  doctor,  standing 
quietly,  making  no  motion  to  defend  himself.  He 
thought,  M  I'll  hit  him  a  swat  by  the  side  of  the  head,  and 
when  he  falls,  I'll  grab  his  watch  and  chain  before  the 
other  fellows  gets  'em."  So  full  of  the  idea  of  robbing 
his  victim  was  he,  that  he  marched  boldly  up,  and, 
raising  his  club,  brought  it  down  with  all  of  his  force 
on  the  doctor's  head. 

As  it  descended,  the  doctor,  dexterously  caught  it, 
twisted  it  to  one  side,  and  then  sent  his  steel  shod  cane 
into  the  bully's  mouth.  It  tore  its  way  through  break- 
ing out  his  front  teeth  and  going  through  his  cheek, 
sent  the  blood  over  his  shirt  front  in  a  torrent. 

He  gave  a  howl  like  a  wounded  animal,  and,  as  he 
turned  around,  presenting  his  face  to  the  crowd  behind 
him,  they  uttered  a  cry  of  horror  and  dismay.  The 
doctor  was  quick  to  seize  his  advantage.  He  sprang 
at  the  foremost  fellows,  striking  one,  and  thrusting 
another,  and  he  managed  to  give  several  of  them  some 
pretty  severe  wounds  in  the  face  and  head,  for  he  used 
his  light  cane  like  a  rapier,  and  wherever  he  thrust,  he 
brought  blood.  One  after  another  turned,  and  in  a  few 
moments  the  whole  mob,  yelling  like  a  pack  of  coyotes, 
fled,  leaving  him  alone. 

He  went  back  to  where  he  had  stood  by  the  side  of 
the  barn  and  picked  up  his  medicine  case,  where  he 
dropped  it,  and  dusted  it  off. 

He  felt  of  his  arm.     "A  slight  bruise  is  all,"  he  said. 

Then  he  went  on  to  Trent's.  He  found,  as  he  sus- 
pected, that  he  had  not  been  called,  and  there  had 
been  no  accident.     Then  he  took  his  way  back. 


192  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

As  he  got  on  the  street  car  he  saw  Lurello  Nagle, 
but  that  individual  avoided  his  eye. 

The  doctor  looked  at  him  in  profound  contempt. 

He  rode  back  to  his  office,  went  to  his  room,  washed 
the  bruise  on  his  arm  and  brushed  his  clothes.  Then 
he  examined  his  cane. 

There  was  blood  on  the  ferule  and  on  the  wood. 

"  Mr.  Michael  O'Hara  will  do  well  to  consult  a  dentist 
the  first  thing  in  the  morning,"  he  ejaculated. 

Then  he  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  It  is  getting  around  to  half-past  eight,"  he  said.  "  I 
must  face  the  other  mob." 

He  left  his  office,  and  walked  resolutely  to  the  hall. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


His  entrance  created  quite  a  commotion, —  an  un- 
easy feeling.  A  murmur  ran  about  the  room,  and  as 
he  sought  a  seat,  the  chairman  came  down,  and,  with 
mock  courtesy,  asked  him  to  go  up  on  the  platform. 

Dr.  Cavallo's  blood  was  up,  and  he  accepted  the  in- 
vitation, to  the  surprise  of  that  gentleman,  and  going 
on  the  stage,  took  a  seat.  His  action  was  greeted  with 
a  storm  of  hisses  and  execrations,  and  those  already  on 
the  stage  drew  away  from  him,  and  took  up  seats  apart. 

He  looked  over  the  audience,  and  he  could  not  see 
one  friendly  face.  He  was  alone.  But  his  blood  was 
boiling.  Something  of  the  old  Maccabean  spirit  was  in 
his  veins.  He  faced  the  audience  with  a  look  of  calm 
dignity. 

The  meeting  had  been  already  opened  by  the  selec- 
tion of  a  well-known  business  man,  Mr..  Radcliff,  as 
chairman.  He  was  a  good-natured  fellow,  always 
ready  to  agree  with  the  last  speaker,  and  anxious  for 
public  honors.  He  had  long  been  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Supervisors,  and  now  he  had  secret  aspir- 
ations for  Congress.  He  said,  cautiously,  that  this 
meeting  had  been  called  at  the  suggestion  of  some 
well-known  citizens,  who  would  make  known  its  pur- 
pose further  on.  For  his  part,  he  was  not  well  advised 
what  the  motive  was,  but  he  had  consented  to  preside, 
7 


194  '  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

to  maintain  order,  and  see  that  every  one  had  a  fair 
show.  Then  he  asked  some  one  to  state  the  object  of 
the  meeting. 

No  one  moved  at  first,  and  it  seemed  that  the  meet- 
ing would  be  a  flat  failure. 

Seidel  had  forseen  this,  and  he  had  his  man  ready. 
There  was  a  young  lawyer  in  the  city,  named  Peterson. 
He  was  an  idle,  dissipated  chap,  who  could  make  a 
brilliant  talk,  but  he  was  allowing  his  love  for  whisky 
to  get  the  better  of  his  intellect.  Seidel  had  come 
across  him  that  afternoon  and  had  treated  him,  and 
outlining  what  he  wanted,  told  him  that  now  was  his 
chance.  He  ought  to  attend  the  meeting  that  evening, 
and  make  a  hit  by  abusing  Ur.  Cavallo,  who  was  un- 
popular. He  would,  in  this  way,  get  on  the  right 
side,  and,  undoubtedly,  old  Abbott  would  pick  him  up 
and  give  him  business.  Filled  with  this  idea,  Peterson 
watched  for  his  chance,  and  as  every  one  else  hung 
back,  he  arose  to  his  feet,  and,  addressing  the  chair, 
was  invited  to  come  on  the  platform.  As  he  made  his 
way  up,  Seidel  started  a  cheer  for  him,  which  was 
responded  to  and  taken  up  by  the  others.  This  flat- 
tered Peterson's  vanity,  and  he  felt  he  was  on  the  right 
track. 

He  said  "That  he  had  waited  patiently  for  some  one 
to  give  expression  to  the  indignation  that  stirred 
this  community.  The  morals  of  the  city  had  been  out- 
raged ;  the  ancient  ties  of  family  had  been  broken  up  ; 
the  name  of  a  respectable  citizen  had  been  dragged  in 
the  dust  ;  a  lovely  girl  was  even  now  sitting  in  her  lux- 
urious home,  weeping  for  her  broken  and  shattered 
hopes  ;  two  Christian  houses  had  been  desolated,  and 
the  scandal  of  an  entire  family  had  been  dragged  out, 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  I95 

■ —  the  skeleton  of  a  moral  household  had  been  exposed 
to  the  light  of  day  in  order  to  gratify  the  malice,  the 
race  hatred  of  this  man,  Dr.  Cavallo.  For  his  part,  he 
lifted  up  his  voice  in  protest  against  such  infernal,  such 
damnable  villainy.  He  wished,  in  the  name  of  out- 
raged morals,  in  the  name  of  virtue,  in  the  name  of  the 
holy  profession  of  the  clergy  itself,  to  protest  against 
such  profanation  as  had  been  witnessed  when  two  men, 
one  a  professional  physician,  the  other  a  minister,  had 
profaned  the  very  name  of  religion  and  of  the  holy  in- 
stitution of  marriage,  by  descending  to  the  slums,  in  a 
sink  of  prostitution,  uniting  in  marriage  the  scion  of  a 
worthy  house,  the  bearer  of  an  honored  Christian  name, 
with  one  of  the  lowest  prostitutes  in  the  city." 

Feeling  now  sure  of  his  ground,  Peterson  began  a 
tirade  against  the  Jews  as  a  people,  and  repeated  every 
epithet  he  could  think  of.  This  sort  of  attorney  is 
always  great  in  villification,  and  encouraged  by  the 
applause  of  his  auditors,  Peterson  went  all  lengths.  The 
Ham  Head  gang  had  come  in  fresh  from  their  encoun- 
ter with  the  doctor,  and  at  every  epithet  that  the  brain 
of  Peterson  could  coin,  they  yelled  their  approval. 
Finally,  the  lawyer,  after  having  fairly  outdone  himself 
in  vituperation  and  Billingsgate,  began  to  call  names 
and  he  grew  positively  vulgar  towards  the  close.  This 
was  not  exactly  what  Seidel  wanted,  so  he  set  some  of 
the  gang  to  yelling,  "  Give  it  to  them."  "Down  with 
the  Sheenies,"  and  the  like,  and  in  accordance  with  his 
plan,  they  made  so  much  noise  that  Peterson  had  to 
close. 

They  began  calling  for  some  one  else,  and  several 
speakers  followed,  but  as  they  could  not  match  Peter- 
son, their  remarks  were  tame  in  comparison.     At  last 


I96  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Mr.  Bezeke  arose.  He  was  a  shoemaker  and  a  profes- 
sional agitator.  The  boys  called  him  "Old  Beeswax," 
perhaps  from  the  fidelity  with  which,  once  started,  he 
stuck  to  the  subject.  He  now  arose,  and,  going  to  the 
platform,  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  and  said  that  he  didn't 
like  the  Jews,  anyway.  In  his  country,  Germany,  they 
thought  very  little  of  them,  and  they  were  thinking 
less  every  day.  The  Jews,  when  they  get  into  a  busi- 
ness, drive  everybody  else  out.  A  Jew  always  gets  the 
better  of  you  in  a  trade,  and  they  are  monopolizing 
this  country.  If  you  want  to  get  money  now  you  have 
to  go  to  a  Jew.  If  you  want  to  buy  a  railroad  ticket, 
or  a  cigar,  or  a  coat,  or  a  pair  of  suspenders,  you  have 
to  go  to  a  Jew.  Now  they  have  gone  into  the  boot 
and  shoe  business,  and  every  clothing  store  puts  in  a 
stock  of  shoes,  and  an  honest  man  cannot  make  a  liv- 
ing any  more.  The  crowd  laughed  as  they  recalled 
his  trade,  but  he  went  on.  For  his  part  he  hated 
them.  He  was  glad  that  he  was  no  Jew.  He  took 
his  seat  amid  cries  of  l<  Beeswax  !  Beeswax  !  "  from 
the  boys  in  the  gallery. 

The  meeting  had  not  gone  entirely  to  Seidel's  liking. 
Peterson  was  disreputable,  and  Bezeke  was  a  crank. 
It  would  not  do  to  have  it  end  in  this  way.  Seidel  saw 
Dr.  McHale  in  the  crowd  and  he  began  to  call  for  him. 
The  audience  took  up  the  cry,  and  the  doctor  was 
obliged  to  come  to  the  platform.  He  did  not  like  the 
idea  at  all,  but  as  Abbott  was  mixed  up  in  it,  and  as  ha 
owed  Cavallo  a  grudge,  he  had  come  to  the  meeting 
to  look  on.  When  he  found  that  he  was  expected  to 
speak,  he  put  a  bold  face  upon  it.  He  walked  on  the 
stage,  shook  hands  with  the  chairman,  bowed  to  the 
audience,  came  well  down  in  front  and  said  he  wanted 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  197 

to  discuss  this  matter  calmly  and  dispassionately.  For 
his  part  he  had  no  prejudice.  He  looked  upon  all 
men  as  equal,  but  he  must  say,  that,  if  he  were  in 
Georgia,  he  would  be  for  a  white  man's  government, 
so  in  this  Christian  land  he  was  for  a  Christian  govern- 
ment. In  spite  of  everything  that  could  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  Jews,  he  could  not  forget  that  this  race  had 
crucified  "our  Lord  and  Saviour,"  and  were  still  stiff- 
necked  and  rebellious,  refusing  to  recognize  him  and 
unwilling  to  accept  the  gospel  so  freely  tendered  them. 
That  the  Jew  will  eventually  see  the  error  of  his  ways, 
he  said,  he  knew.  They  would  accept  the  Messiah  and 
would  reform.  But  we  can  not  but  condemn  their  arts 
in  trade,  in  commerce,  and  in  business. 

"It  was  well  known  that,  as  has  been  stated  here, 
that  they  monopolize  certain  lines,  and  in  those  lines 
the  Christian  is  at  a  disadvantage.  The  Jews  were 
under  a  curse,  but  he  was  disposed  to  cast  a  veil  of 
charity  over  this  and  to  insist  that,  if  they  would  re- 
form their  methods  and  accept  the  truth,  they  are  wel- 
come, but  until  they  do,1'  and  the  speaker  raised  his 
hand  in  warning,  "1  am  in  favor  of  visiting  them  with 
the  rigors  of  the  law  whenever  they  overstep  the  boun- 
daries of  the  statute.  Not  in  vain  did  our  fathers 
compel  them  to  live  apart,  in  sections  of  the  city  by 
themselves.  It  might  be  necessary  for  society  to  do 
this  again.  It  might  be  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  our  Faith,  to  again  insist  upon  them  wearing  a 
special  dress.  If  this  thing  were  done,  for  my  part,  I 
should  not  greatly  object  to  it.  Two  great  English 
writers  have  given  us  pictures  of  the  Jews.  The  one 
wrote  Shylock,  the  other,  Fagin."  With  this,  the  rev- 
erend  gentleman    sat   down    and    was    applauded    to 


I98  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  echo.  Cavallo,  looking  over  the  crowd,  saw  far 
back,  under  the  gallery,  Seidel  and  Nagle  applauding 
the  speech  and  yelling  in  uproarious  delight. 

McHale's  speech  had  hit  the  popular  sentiment  of 
the  hour,  and  even  the  chairman  said  that  he  felt  much 
gratified  that  he  had  heard  the  able  remarks  of  the 
talented  and  reverend  gentleman.  It  was  time  that  the 
better  element  of  society  took  a  hand  in  the  discussion 
of  these  public  questions.  Would  anyone  else  like  to 
speak?" 

Some  one  called  Cavallo,  and  after  a  pause,  the  cry 
went  up,  "  Cavallo,  Cavallo." 

There  was  a  sneer  on  the  face  of  the  chairman,  as  he 
said  that  there  seemed  to  be  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  audience  to  hear  from  Dr.  Cavallo,  and  as 
that  gentleman  was  with  them  he  would  give  him  an 
opportunity  to  address  them. 

Cavallo  arose,  walked  down  to  the  footlights  and 
faced  the  meeting. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


McHale's  speech  had  worked  them  up  to  the  highest 
pitch,  and  when  the  doctor  came  forward  they  roared 
at  him  like  hungry  animals.  Back  in  the  crowd 
he  saw  Seidel  and  Nagle  laughing  with  triumph  at  the 
success  of  the  scheme  and  ever  and  anon  yelling  to 
add  to  the  commotion. 

He  was  fresh  from  the  encounter  with  the  Ham 
Head  gang  and  his  arm  ached  with  the  bruise,  but  the 
same  spirit  glowed  in  his  veins  as  when,  with  his  back 
to  the  barn,  he  drew  his  slender'  cane  through  his 
fingers  and  felt  the  point  of  the  steel  ferule  to  see  if  it 
was  in  place. 

His  glowing  "eye,  the  calmness  and  splendid  courage 
that  he  exhibited,  the  magnificent  scorn  that  sat  upon 
his  lip  and  the  very  splendor  of  his  presence,  as  with 
an  imperious  gesture  he  raised  his  hand  to  command 
silence,  hushed  the  clamor  and  it  died  away,  and  was 
succeeded  by  a  stillness  so  intense  that  every  word 
that  he  uttered  could  be  plainly  heard  all  over  the  hall. 

"I  come  here  because  I  am  a  man,  and  I  am  a  man 
because  I  am  a  Jew.  I  understand  that  this  meeting  is 
called  because  of  a  fancied  wrong  that  I  have  heaped 
upon  young  Abbott.  Listen,  and  I  will  tell  you  of  the 
greater  wrong,  for  which  that  act  was  in  some  sort  a 
reparation." 


200  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

He  then  depicted  the  events  of  that  night.  The 
agony  of  the  neglected  girl,  the  artful  way  in  which 
she  had  been  made  to  believe  that  she  was  a  law- 
ful wife.  The  steps  by  which,  little  by  little,  her 
womanly  sympathies  had  been  preyed  upon.  The 
maltreatment,  the  desertion,  the  starvation,  the  bring- 
ing her  back  to  the  city,  the  spiriting  away  her  baby, 
the  lodging  her  in  a  house  of  low  repute,  by  which  all 
chance  of  regaining  her  lost  position  would  be  rendered 
impossible,  the  frightful  circumstances  under  which  he 
had  been  called  to  attend  her,  the  ribald  laughter,  the 
coarse  obscenity,  and  the  disgusting  filth.  The  advent 
of  young  Abbott,  brought  to  the  spot,  not  by  penit- 
ence, or  by  charity,  but  by  his  own  lusts  ;  the  sudden 
fac ing  of  the  woman  whom  he  had  wronged,  and  his  fit 
of  repentance.  "It  was  not  my  act,"  the  doctor  cried, 
"that  drove  him  to  make  some  reparation  to  this  poor 
soul,  but  his  own  guilty  conscience.  Why  did  I  permit 
it  to  be  done  ?  It  was  to  save  the  innocent  child,  that 
little  girl,  from  the  depths  of  degradation  that  would 
have  been  heaped  upon  her  as  soon  as  she  could  learn 
to  distinguish  right  from  wrong.  It  was  to  save  one 
human  soul  from  the  sins  of  its  father.  You,"  turning 
to  McHale,  "who  preach  every  Sunday  the  maxim, 
'Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid 
them  not,7  would  have  sent  this  little  innocent  through 
the  world  with  the  brand  of  Cain  upon  her  brow,  and 
the  scarlet  letter  upon  her  cheek,  for  a  crime  that  was 
committed,  not  by,  but  against  her.  You,  professing 
to  bear  tidings  of  peace  and  good  will  upon  earth, 
stand  here  and  strive  in  malice  and  bigotry  to  revive 
the  spirit  of  the  middle  ages.  You  carry  peace  upon 
your  lips  and  a  dagger  in  both  hands.     You  represent 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  201 

what  you  are  pleased  to  call,  the  later  civilization,  but 
you  bear  the  brand  of  villainy,  the  crime  of  murder, 
and  you  put  the  poisoned  chalice  of  hate  in  the  hands 
of  the  mob,  stirring  up  the  worst  passions  of  men,  and 
rejoicing  in  your  work.  The  Judaism  that  I  represent 
is  that  of  the  highest  humanity.  The  spirit  that  I  fol- 
low is  that  of  the  prophets  of  old,  who  demanded  for 
the  oppressed,  justice,  not  charity  ;  who  strove  to  pro- 
tect the  weak  against  the  strong,  who  endeavored  to 
shield  the  innocent  and  feeble,  against  the  avaricious 
grasp  of  the  despoiler.  Whoever  comes  with  the  mes- 
sage of  the  brotherhood  of  man  to  me,  is  my  brother. 
I  know  no  Jew,  I  know  no  Presbyterian,  I  know  no 
Methodist,  no  Catholic,  nor  any  of  the  narrow  divisions 
by  which  men  have  been  taught  to  separate  themselves 
from  their  fellow  men.  'Whoever  doeth  the  work  of 
humanity,  the  same  is  my  mother  and  my  brethren.'" 

The  tide  was  turned.  His  words  were  drowned  in  a 
roar  of  applause. 

A  man  was  seen  struggling  to  make  his  way  down 
the  aisle.  When  he  had  reached  the  middle  of  the 
house,  he  took  off  his  hat,  waved  it,  commanding 
silence. 

It  was  Pat  O'Hara. 

As  soon  as  he  was  recognized,  there  was  a  cry  of 
"  Listen  to  Pat.     Give  it  to  him,  Pat." 

He  waved  his  hat  again.  "  Hould  on,  bys.  Yez  all 
know  me."  Then,  as  the  audience  grew  still,  he  added  : 
"  O'ive  lived  in  this  town  forty  odd  years,  and  yez  niver 
knew  Pat  O'Hara  to  tell  a  lie." 

He  was  applauded  again,  and  this  embarrassed  him. 
Then  he  went  on : 

"Oi  say,  O'ive  lived  here,  aff  an'  on,  and  Oi  know 


202  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Dochter  Cavallo.  Oi  want  to  say  that  he's  a  man,  an* 
ony  man  that  sez  he  ain't,  is  a  dom  liar,  that's  phat 
he  is." 

A  roar  of  laughter  followed,  and  Pat  was  applauded 
to  the  echo. 

Then  a  man  arose,  and  said  that  he  wanted  to  tes- 
tify to  that,  too.  Who  had  come  forward  at  a  time 
when  the  poor  people  of  Abbott's  Row  had  needed 
homes,  and  put  up  lodging-houses  for  them  but  Mrs. 
Bernheim?  He  was  one  of  the  tenants,  and  had  been 
benefitted  by  the  plan  adopted. 

Two  others  said  the  same  thing. 

Then  Pat  O'Hara  got  upon  his  feet  again,  and  said: 
1  Yis,  an'  who  tore  down  the  domn'd  ould  Row,  an'  gev 
us  all  a  chance?  Ah,  ha,  d'ye  moind  ;  it  was  the  doch- 
ter. Don't  fergit  that,  Misther  Chairman,  don't  fergit 
that,  put  it  all  down." 

Pat  was  cheered. 

Dr.  Cavallo's  speech  had  fairly  turned  'the  tide,  and 
when  the  meeting  broke  up,  the  crowd  surged  on  the 
platform,  and  shook  him  by  the  hand,  and  manifested 
their  delight  at  what  he  had  done. 

Seidel  and  Nagle  walked  away  together,  and  for 
some  time  neither  spoke. 

Then  Seidel  broke  out,  "I  despise  the  fellow,  but, 
after  all,  it  was  as  good  as  a  play  to  see  him  turn  on 
that  crowd  and  take  them  by  the  neck." 

Nagle  grinned.  "  Mike  O'Hara  probably  thinks  the 
same,  for  when  I  left  him  in  Jake's  saloon  he  had  his 
whole  cheek  torn  open,  where  Cavallo  had  punched  him 
with  his  cane." 

Seidel  gave  an  exclamation  of  impatience. 

"  I  hope  Mike  kept  his  mouth  shut  ?" 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  203 

"No,  he  couldn't,  it's  split  open." 
"  He  did  n't  say  anything  ?  " 

Nagle  grinned  again.     "  No,  he  could  n't  talk  if  he 
wanted  to." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


When  the  morning  papers  gave  the  report  of  the 
meeting  of  the  night  before,  and  prefaced  it  with  an 
account  of  the  attack  that  had  been  made  upon  Dr. 
Cavallo,  which  the  reporters  had  obtained  from  the 
police,  a  revulsion  of  feeling  took  place  in  the  city. 
The  police  had  found  one  of  the  members  of  the  Ham 
Head  gang  bleeding  on  the  prairie,  with  a  bad  wound 
in  his  neck.  From  him  they  had  arrested  Mike 
O'Hara.  When  the  old  man,  Pat,  came  home  from 
the  meeting,  and  told  what  had  been  done,  and  how 
he  made  a  speech  that  was  the  cap  sheaf  of  the  even- 
ing, and  then  learned  that  his  son  had  attempted  to 
assassinate  his  friend,  his  anger  knew  no  bounds.  He 
insisted  that  the  whole  thing  should  be  told,  and  the 
papers  said  surprising  revelations  had  been  made 
against  hitherto  respectable  parties.  One  of  the  first 
callers  upon  Cavallo  was  Mr.  Tobias,  who  asked  why 
he  had  not  allowed  his  friends  to  come  to  his  aid.  "I 
saw  a  notice  of  the  meeting,"  said  he,  "but  I  did  not 
go,  thinking  that,  perhaps,  it  was  only  a  hoodlum 
gathering.  I  was  proud  of  you,  doctor,  when  I  read 
the  statement  in  this  morning's  paper.  I  can  see  you 
now.  as  you  stood  up  and  faced  them,  and  to  think  of 
out  there  on  the  prairie,  with  nothing  but  a  cane,  fight- 
ing those  hoodlums.  I  tell  you  it  was  great.  It  was 
magnificent." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  .      205 

Mr  Herman  dropped  in.  "If  Bernheim  had  been 
here,  I  am  satisfied  those  fellows  would  never  have 
dared  to  come  out  the  way  they  did,"  he  said,  rt  but  he 
has  gone  east.  As  for  that  little  lawyer,  he  is  too  in- 
significant to  notice.  I  did  think  better  of  Dr.  McHale, 
but  he  was  influenced  by  Abbott." 

The  visit  that  did  him  the  most  good  was  from  Bob 
Lawrence,  "I  sat  in  the  gallery,"  said  Bob,  "and 
when  the  old  parson  got  through  with  his  diatribe,  I 
started  up  the  cry  for  you.  I  knew  that  you  would 
demolish  him,  but  I  was  not  quite  prepared  for  such  a 
scoring  as  you  gave  him.  Did  you  notice  how  the 
chairman  tacked  and  filled,  agreeing  with  the  last 
speaker,  always.  That's  Radcliff.  If  the  crowd  had 
concluded  to  put  the  rope  around  your  neck,  he  would 
have  chipped  in  just  as  cheerfully  as  he  shook  hands 
with  you  when  it  was  over,  and  congratulated  you  on 
your  speech.     The  world  is  damned  by  its  hypocrites." 

u  It  is  damned  by  its  cowards,"  returned  Cavallo. 

"It's  all  one,"  replied  Bob,  "l  coward'  and  'hypo- 
crite '  are  synonymous  terms.  The  fact  that  a  man  is  a 
coward,  makes  him  a  hypocrite.  I  say  this,  for  I 
guess  I  am  a  little  of  both." 

"How  is  that?" 

"Oh,  I  sat  there  last  night  and  allowed  those  fellows 
to  abuse  you  and  the  Jews  and  never  opened  my 
mouth.  If  I  had  not  been  a  mere  pretense  of  a  man  I 
would  have  gone  down  there  and  demolished  the  whole 
lot.  However,  I  am  glad  I  did  not,  for  you  had  all  the 
better  opportunity.  I  tell  you,  doctor,  I  would  like  to 
have  your  photograph  as  you  walked  down  to  those 
footlights  and  held  up  your  hand  to  still  the  crowd.  I 
never  saw  such  a  fine  impersonation  of  wrath,  disgust 


206  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

and  contempt  in  my  life.  What  a  splendid  actor  you 
would  make." 

"  Acting  is  not  in  my  line.  I  never  felt  less  like  act- 
ing in  my  life.     I  was  thoroughly  in  earnest." 

Bob  moved  uneasily  about,  got  up  and  sat  down,  and 
lighted  one  of  the  doctor's  cigars,  which  the  latter 
courteously  handed  him.  He  hesitated  "Doctor,  you 
are  not  a  business  man,  and  yet  I  feel  like  asking  your 
advice  on  a  business  point." 

"What  is  it?  You  know  full  well  that  anything  I 
can  do  for  you,  I  will  do." 

Bob  gave  a  laugh.  "Well,  then,  it's  about  this  min- 
ing deal.  I  have  advanced  some  money  to  Seidel,  and 
now  he  wants  me  to  go  in  with  a  syndicate  and  take 
fifty  thousand  dollars  worth  of  the  stock." 

44  Who  are  in  the  syndicate?" 

44  Well,  there's  Nagle,  and  a  lot  of  other  chaps  ;  who, 
I  do  not  know,  but  Seidel  says  that  they  are  good." 

"The  scheme,  then,  is  to  get  Mr.  Robert  Lawrence 
at  the  back  of  it,  and  really  have  him  endorse  the 
project  with  his  name,  and,  possibly,  with  his  signa- 
ture, and  then  float  it.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  chest- 
nuts and  the  cat,  but  don't  you  be  the  cat." 

Bob  smoked  slowly,  and  said,  "It  is  singular  how  a 
man's  eyes  can  be  blinded.  With  all  of  my  knowledge, 
I  thought  that  it  was  a  pretty  good  thing."  With  these 
words  he  arose,  and  putting  on  his  hat,  walked  slowly 
down  to  his  own  office. 

He  had  not  been  there  long  before  Seidel  came  in, 
the  embodiment  of  good  humor. 

"  Robert,  how  is  the  man  of  business  to-day  ?  Im- 
mersed in  the  calculations  of  tariffs  and  accounts  and 
rebates  ?" 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  207 

Robert  drew  up  a  chair  for  him,  and  Seidel  con- 
tinued in  the  same  flowing  vein  of  good  nature: 

"Cut  loose,  my  dear  sir,  from  these  petty  details. 
Let  the  miserly  and  sordid  grub.  The  time  of  the 
nimble  sixpence  and  the  slow  shilling  is  past.  Specu- 
lation is  now  the  order  of  the  day.  The  wealthy 
speculates  to  increase  his  store,  and  the  man  of 
humble  means  speculates  to  make  a  beginning.  That 
was  a  good  remark  which  the  poor  man  made  to  Van- 
derbilt,  when  the  railroad  magnate  told  him  to  put  by 
his  savings,  and  learn  to  economize,  and  not  to  be  buy- 
ing lottery  tickets.  He  asked  how  long  Vanderbilt 
would  have  had  to  save  and  put  by  his  earnings  to  ac- 
quire his  fifty  millions  ?     That  was  a  clincher." 

"  I  have  made  some  outside  investments,"  said  Bob, 
doubtfully,  "and  I  never  got  out  clear." 

"Yes,  but  what  did  you  make  it  in  ?  Why,  in  land. 
There  you  are,  with  something  open  and  tangible,  sub- 
ject to  taxation,  to  assessment  for  improvements,  for 
sewers  and  streets  and  alleys  and  bridges,  and  heaven 
knows  what.  It  lies  open  and  patent  to  the  day,  and 
any  one  can  see  it.  Now,  with  stocks  it  isn't  so.  Look 
at  the  fellows  in  our  large  cities,  in  the  world's  large 
cities.  What  is  the  active  principle  of  business  today  ? 
Why,  it  is  stocks  ;  it  is  grain,  it  is  oil  or  cotton  ;  never 
the  material  itself,  but  the  representative  of  it.  They 
have  tried  to  legislate  it  out  of  existence,  but  have  they 
done  it  ?  No,  it  is  stronger  to-day  than  ever.  Now,  I 
only  want  you  to  stand  by  this  deal.  The  stock  of  this 
mining  company  will  go  to  par.  We  are  going  to  list 
it  on  the  Stock  Board,  and  then  it  will  go  kiting.1' 

14 1  was  talking  about  it  to  Dr.  Cavallo,  and  he  did  not 
seem  to  be  impressed  with  it." 


208  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Seidel  threw  back  his  head,  and  gave  his  peculiar 
laugh.  "  Dr.  Cavallo  !  that's  good.  What  does  a  pro- 
fessional man  know  about  business  ?  My  dear  boy,  if 
you  had  a  boil,  I  should  say  go  to  Dr.  Cavallo,  by  all 
means.  I  heard  him  last  night  at  the  hall.  Good 
speech  he  made,  too,  from  his  standpoint.  I  could 
have  answered  him  if  I  had  a  mind  to.  But  what  does 
Robert  Lawrence,  a  shrewd  operator,  and  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  business  at  his  fingers'  ends, 
want  with  advice  from  a  dreamer  like  this  Cavallo  ?  If 
you  want  to  do  anything,  do  it  yourself.  If  I  wanted 
to  know  what  to  do,  I  would  come  to  you  in  a  matter 
of  this  kind,  for  you  know  far  more  than  any  one  in 
this  city." 

In  this  manner,  partly  by  flattery  and  partly  by 
cajoling,  Seidel  induced  Robert  to  go  into  the  scheme. 
It  took  some  time  to  accomplish  this,  but  Bob  was 
easy  going,  and  he  finally  yielded  to  the  wiles  of  the 
tempter,  and  gave  him  his  signature,  for  which  he  was 
to  be  secured  by  double  the  amount  of  stock.  A 
secret  sense  of  doing  the  wrong  thing,  made  him  assent 
to  Seidel's  suggestion,  that  the  endorsement  should  be 
kept  a  secret  between  them  and  the  bank,  for  as  it 
was  only  a  matter  of  form,  nothing  would  come  of  it 
any  way. 

Seidel  left  the  office  with  a  smile  of  satisfaction. 
"  The  infernal  Jew  came  very  nearly  upsetting  the 
boat,1'  he  said,  "  but  I  have  landed  my  fish  after  all." 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 


Mr.  Timothy  Dodd  recovered  his  poise.  The  fact 
that  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  city  called  upon 
his  patron  and  congratulated  him  upon  the  stand  that 
he  had  taken,  the  notices  in  the  newspapers,  the  in- 
creased respect  that  was  accorded  the  doctor,  and, 
above  all,  the  great  demand  for  his  professional  ser- 
vices, gave  Timothy  new  light,  and  with  it  an  increased 
air  of  his  own  importance  as  belonging  to  so  popular 
an  establishment.  He  wore  his  high  hat  now  as  an 
every  day  affair,  and  he  placed  it  on  one  side  of  his 
head,  thereby  increasing  the  sense  of  his  own  import- 
ance. He  had  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  O'Hara 
household  since  they  had  removed  into  one  of  the 
model  houses  built  by  Mrs.  Bernheim,  and  he  spent  a 
good  deal  of  time  there.  He  put  on  his  hat  one  even- 
ing, and  taking  his  usual  course,  stopped  at  the  O'Hara 
dwelling. 

To  open  the  gate  and  walk  in,  was  the  easy  work  of 
an  old  friend. 

He  greeted  the  old  gentleman  with  his  air  of  lofty 
courtesy,  saying,  "  Good  evenin'  to  all  the  house." 

"The  same  to  you,  Timothy,"  said  Pat. 

The  old  gentleman  was  sitting  in  the  front  yard,  in 
his  shirt  sleeves,  in  all  the  glory  of  the  independent 
citizen,  smoking  his  pipe.     The  eldest  girl,  as  soon  as 


210  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

she  saw  Tim,  came  and  sat  in  a  hammock,  that  was 
stretched  from  the  corner  of  the  house  to  a  fence 
picket.  Inside  the  door,  Tim  could  see  the  old  lady 
and  the  other  daughter. 

14  Where's  Moike  ?"  he  asked. 

The  old  man  replied,  without  taking  the  pipe  from 
his  mouth,  "  Gone  thrampin'." 

"How's  that  ?"  inquired  Tim. 

"  I  dhruv  him  out,"  said  the  old  man.  "  Whin  I  kem 
home  from  the  meetin'  in  the  hall,  where  me  and  the 
dochter  put  down  the  mob,  I  found  that  that  b'y  of 
moine  had  been  ladin'  an  attack  on  the  very  mon  that 
I  had  been  defindin'.  A  foine  mess  he  made  uv  it ;  the 
dochter  had  got  the  betther  uv  him.  Moike  was  a  dis- 
grace to  his  sex.  The  pulece  hed  him  for  a  toime,  but 
the  dochter  wud  make  no  complaint." 

11  Lave  him  go,"  sez  the  dochter,  and  they  turned  him 
out.  "  It'll  be  mony  a  day  afore  he'll  relish  his  vittals, 
Oi'm  thinkinV 

44  He  kem  home  here  an'  laid  aroun'  wid  a  hed  onto 
him  ye'd  think  he  wus  a  buffalo.  Ye're  a  Ham  Head, 
sez  I,  an'  at  last  I  gev  him  the  bounce." 

uYe  did  roight,"  said  Tim,  "ye  maintained  the 
honor  uv  the  family.  There  is,  as  ye  may  say,  two 
kinds  uv  Oirish,  there's  the  bog-throttin'  kind,  who 
kem  up  widout  rhyme  or  rayson,  an'  who  are  the  fut- 
stule  uv  the  wurrld,  an'  thin  there's  the  other  kind,  who 
are  the  gintlest  an'  the  foinest  people  on  earth, — 
scholars  an'  orathors  and  min  distinguished  by  raysarch 
and  jainous.  Thin,  as  ye  may  say,  there's  the  thrue 
Oirishman  an'  the  false  Oirishman,  an'  thin'  there's  wan 
set  that's  naythur  wan  nor  the  other.  The  same  way 
wid  the  Jews.     There's  hoigh-moinded  an'  low-moinded 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  211 

Jews.  There's  Jews  that  are  peddlers  an'  there's  Jews 
that  are  professionals,  an*  there  are  others  that  are  the 
divil  knows  phat.     Now,  there's  Dochter  Cavallo," 

"A  foine  man  he  is,"  said  Pat.  "He  got  me  this 
house  and  he  got  me  into  one  of  the  factories  as  watch- 
man, and  he  gev  me  a  lift.  To  be  sure,  if  it  hadn't 
been  for  me,  the  crowd  in  the  hall  wud  hav  got  away 
wid  him,  but  in  the  nick  of  time  I  stepped  in  wid  an 
iloquent  little  spaach,  giving  them  the  tip  of  the  blarney 
and  they  quit." 

"Tim,  when  are  you  going  to  be  a  doctor?"  asked 
the  young  lady,  mischieviously. 

"  That's  a  question  that  is  not  to  be  answered  off-hand 
like,  as  ye  may  say  'what's  the  time  of  day,'  Miss 
Nora,"  replied  Tim,  loftily.  "The  science  of  physic  is 
not  to  be  swallowed  at  wan  dose,  as  ef  it  were  a  pill. 
Ye  hev  to  diagnose  it." 

u What's  that,"  returned  the  young  lady.  "You  are 
always  using  these  big  words.  How  do  you  diagnose 
a  thing?" 

"  It's  a  midical  term,  embracing  the  whole  thary  of 
the  subject.  It's  origin  is  'diag,'  a  Greek  word,  manin' 
to  throost,  and  'nose,'  signifying  the  manner  in  which, 
as  ye  may  say,  ye  have  to  throost  yer  nose  into  the 
very  bowels  of  the  subject  for  to  diskiver  what  yere 
saykin'  afther." 

This  was  quite  satisfactory  to  his  auditor,  the  young 
lady  only  remarking,  "It  must  make  an  awful  mess." 

"  Miss  Nora,"  continued  Tim,  sitting  down  in  the 
hammock  by  her  side,  "there's  only  two  things  in  this 
wurrld  worth  studyin'." 

11  What's  them?  "  said  she,  coyly. 

"Wan  is  the  profession  that  a  man  do  be  followin', 
and  the  other  is  the  faymale  heart." 


212  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

11  Mister  Dodd,  you'll  not  be  studying  my  heart,  I 
can  tell  you  that." 

"An'  phy  not?" 

"Because,  the  first  thing  I'd  know,  you'd  be  wantin' 
to  diagnose  it." 

"Nora,  ye  must  larn  to  distinguish  between  profis- 
sional  zale  and  the  warm  impulses  of  frindship." 

"Sit  on  your  own  side  of  the  hammock,"  said  Nora. 
"  I  prefer  your  professional  zeal  to  too  much  friend- 
ship ;  you'r  crowdin'  me." 

41  Oh,  Nora,"  cried  Tim,  "there  isn't  space  in  this 
wurrld  enough  for  two  of  us." 

"  How  do  you  mean  to  help  the  matter  then  ? " 
asked  Nora,  pretending  not  to  understand  him. 

"  Phy,  the  only  way  we  can  help  it  is  to  become 
wan." 

She  looked  at  him  archly.  "  I  thought  that  you  was 
takin'  a  great  interest  in  my  mother,  all  of  this  time. 
It  wasn't  her  then  you  came  to  see  ?" 

"  Nora,  I  have  great  respict  for  yer  mother,  but  it's 
mostly  on  account  of  her  havin'  reared  sich  a  foine 
gurrl  as  you." 

"Oh,  go  off,  it's  the  way  you  talk  to  all  the  girls.  I 
wonder  the  tongue  don't  dry  up  in  your  head." 

"It's  the  heart  that's  dryin'  up  in  me  body,"  cried 
Tim.  "  It's  like  master,  like  man.  The  doctor  is  in 
love  with  one  fair  crayture,  and  here  I  am  on  the 
point  of  expirin'  wid  agony  on  the  account  of  the 
coldness  of  another." 

"Tim,"  said  Nora,  with  a  sudden  thought,  "  when 
Dr.  Cavallo  marries  Miss  Lawrence,  then — " 

"An'  thin,"  said  he,  expectantly. 

"Then  you  can  talk  to  me,"  and  she  laughed  mer- 
rily. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  21 3 

"It's  well  that  the  Bible  says  the  human  heart  is 
decaytful  above  all  things  and  dispirately  wicked," 
said  he.  "  It's  that  way  wid  the  sex,  wherever  yez 
foind  them.  There's  the  dochter,  as  foine  a  mon  as  ever 
lived,  and  him  on  the  point  of  lovin'  that  geyrl  to  dis- 
traction, and  gettin'  no  solace." 

"Why,"  said  Nora,  "is  not  she  mindin1  to  his  love  ?" 

"It's  that  Seidel,"  returned  Tim,  "he's  the  divul 
himself.     He's  thru  that   poor  gurrl  under  a  spell." 

The  old  man  had  fallen  asleep  while  this  conversa- 
tion had  been  going  on,  but  he  now  awoke,  and  began 
to  groan  and  rub  his  back,  at  which  Nora  remarked : 
"Father,  you  had  better  go  into  the  house,  you'll  catch 
the  rheumatism." 

"  I'll  not  catch  it,"  replied  the  old  man,  "By  gob, 
I've  got  it,"  and  he  hobbled  into  the  house,  and  they 
could  hear  him  stirring  out  in  the  kitchen,  after  his 
bottle  of  liniment. 

Tim  contined,  "Miss  Nora,  there's  min,  and  there's 
other  min.  There's  min  like  the  dochter,  that  invite 
confidence,  bein'  that  open  hearted  that  they  fill  yer 
soul  wid  hope  an'  faith,  to  shake  'em  by  the  hand. 
Then  there's  others  whom  ye  naturally  fear,  as  ye 
wud  a  snake,  like  that  Seidel  and  Lurello  Nagle,  a 
shape  wearin'  the  garmints  of  a  wolf." 

"Why  don't  the  doctor  go  straight  up  to  Miss  Law- 
rence and  say  that  he  loves  her  and  will  marry  her,  and 
settle  this  matter  at  once.  He's  good  enough  for  any 
woman.     That's  what  you  would  do,  Tim." 

"There's  difference  bethune  min.  There's  min  who 
could  storm  a  cannon  widout  battin'  their  eye,  but 
whin  they  come  in  front  of  the  woman  they  love,  they 
are  that  wake  that  the   courage   goes   outen  'em,  and 


214  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

they  feel  as  limp  as  a  dish-rag.  Now  the  dochter  is  a 
mon  among  min.  He  wouldn't  scare  about  gettin'  out 
an'  foightin'  a  whole  regimint,  an'  standin'  there  until 
the  flesh  was  hacked  off  his  bones,  but  as  for  comin' 
out,  bould  loike,  to  a  woman,  it's  not  in  him,  an'  as  like 
as  not  he'll  see  Miss  Lawrence  carried  away  by  this 
sneakin'  divil  of  a  Seidel,  widout  a  protest,  and  then 
go  breakin'  his  heart  afterwards." 

"  He  ought  to  diagnose  this  brute  of  a  Seidel,"  sug- 
gested Nora,  looking  slyly  at  Timothy. 

"Yer  an  apt  scholar.  What  a  dochtor's  wife  ye  will 
make,"  and  with  that  he  went  over  the  old  customs. 
If  all  the  world  loves  a  lover,  all  the  world  has  been  a 
lover  at  some  time,  so  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  tell 
how  Timothy  sped  in  his  love  making. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


Seidel  was  making  progress  at  a  rapid  rate.  He  now 
had  plenty  of  money,  for  the  moment,  which  he  flour- 
ished, and  he  was  anxiously  trying  to  cultivate  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  best  people.  He  used  his  power 
over  Bob  Lawrence  to  push  himself  into  society,  and, 
as  he  was  a  man  of  good  address,  he  had  no  difficulty 
in  making  his  way,  then  he  posed  as  the  lover  of  Miss 
Lawrence,  in  spite  of  his  rebuff,  for  his  cool  assur- 
ance did  not  stop  at  anything.  Bob  did  not  like  this, 
but  he  was  so  far  in  Seidel's  power  that  he  could  not 
help  himself.  Seidel,  having  involved  him,  acted 
towards  Bob  with  the  domineering  audacity  that  he 
displayed  to  everyone  whom  he  could,  in  the  least, 
control. 

While  he  was  in  this  advantageous  position,  Seidel 
attempted  to  renew  his  suit  with  Margaret  and  rein- 
state their  old  relations  of  friendship.  He  paid  her 
the  most  marked  attentions,  whenever  he  could,  in 
public.  He  was  profoundly  deferential,  and  so  polite 
that  people  wondered  that  she  could  receive  his  favors 
so  indifferently.  When  he  tried  to  turn  the  conversa- 
tion into  a  sentimental  channel,  she  quietly,  yet  firmly, 
checked  him.  He  carried  his  audacity  so  far  that  he 
had  Mrs.  Nagle  whisper  around  that  Margaret  and  him- 
self were  engaged,  but  Margaret  at  once  denied  it  with 


2l6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

such  spirit  that  the  rumor  was  crushed  before  it  ob- 
tained a  foothold.  Seidel  was  puzzled.  He  could 
make  his  small  points  easily  enough,  but  when  he 
attempted  to  do  something  that  lay  nearest  his  heart, 
he  was  always  quietly  checkmated  and  baffled.  He 
took  out  his  revenge  by  hating  Cavallo  more  than 
ever,  and  in  studying  up  plans  for  his  utter  overthrow. 
As  for  the  doctor,  in  spite  of  Seidel's  opposition,  he 
was  inundated  with  work.  His  practice  had  enor- 
mously increased,  and  an  epidemic  of  grippe  that  raged 
that  winter,  left  him  no  chance  for  rest  night  or  day. 
While  the  malady  raged  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  city, 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  it  escaped  the 
Bernheim  flats,  as  they  were  called.  So  many  of  the 
working  men  had  purchased  homes  on  the  favorable 
terms  that  were  offered,  that  great  additions  had  been 
made  to  them.  Mrs.  Bernheim  was  delighted,  and, 
with  her  characteristic  generosity,  she  gave  the  doctor 
full  credit  for  the  plan,  and  was  never  weary  of  chant- 
ing his  praises. 

She  was  exceedingly  active  that  winter  in  charitable 
work,  and,  as  the  malady  raged  like  a  pestilence  in  the 
poorer  quarters  of  the  city,  she  poured  out  her  money 
like  water  for  the  relief  of  the  stricken,  and  gave  plans 
for  the  much  larger  increase  of  the  model  cottages  in 
the  spring.  The  doctor  once  congratulated  her  upon 
her  work,  but  she  checked  him,  saying,  "Doctor,  you 
know  this  is  inculcated  upon  every  true  Jew,  for  does 
not  the  Talmud  say :  '  The  house  that  is  closed  to 
charity  shall  be  opened  to  the  physician.'  "  He  laugh- 
ingly replied  :  "If  all  my  patients  were  to  act  on  this 
motto  I  fear  that  I  should  lack  practice."  And  he 
complimented  her  on  becoming  so  devout  a  believer. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  21 7 

In  spite  of  all  the  claims  of  society  upon  her,  she 
steadily  kept  in  sight  the  needs  of  her  people,  as  she 
called  her  tenants,  and  she  built  up  a  spirit  of 
self-help  among  them,  for  no  sooner  was  it  noised 
about  that  one  family  had  purchased  their  house  than 
it  spurred  up  others  to  do  the  same.  Then  the  ones 
who  had  bought,  made  little  additions  to  their  dwelling. 
They  would  put  on  a  bay  window  here  and  add  a  dor- 
mer window  there,  so  that  the  flats  began  to  lose  the 
uniform  look  of  sameness  that  they  originally  pos- 
sessed, and  that  are  inseparable  from  rented  houses, 
and  take  on  the  air  of  homes.  Trees  were  planted  and 
vines  trailed  over  the  door.  Roses  and  shrubs  were 
set  out  and  the  little  cottages  began  to  be  adorned 
with  good  taste. 

Mrs.  Bernheim  lent  them  every  assistance  in  her 
power.  Her  large  green-house  was  a  world  in  itself, 
and  she  now  instructed  her  gardener  to  set  apart  a 
place  for  geraniums  and  roses  and  kindred  plants,  so 
that  any  tenant  who  desired  could  have  a  single  plant 
or  an  assortment,  only  agreeing  to  take  care  of  them. 
By  this  means  the  girls  in  the  flats  were  instructed  in 
raising  flowers,  and  the  rooms  soon  possessed  an  air  of 
refinement. 

People  who  had  sneered  at  the  experiment  began  to 
say,  "Of  course,  any  one  could  see  that  it  was  a  good 
speculation,"  for,  as  the  street  cars  had  been  extended 
to  the  place,  property  went  up  enormously,  and  the 
buildings  steadily  increased  in  value.  When  the  ten 
acres  were  exhausted,  more  land  was  procured.  The 
original  investment  had  long  since  proved  satisfactory, 
and  now  the  plant  was  managing  itself.  All  the  money 
that  was  received  from  the  payments  or  rents  was  put 


218  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

back  into  new  buildings  as  fast  as  either  tenants  or  pur- 
chasers could  be  procured. 

Abbott  was  one  of  the  foremost  persons  to  protest 
against  this  policy,  for  his  old  tumble-down  tenements 
would  now  no  longer  rent,  and  this  he  cherished  as  an 
additional  grievance  against  the  doctor,  and  ground  his 
teeth  when  ever  his  name  was  mentioned. 

Lurello  Nagle  denounced  the  whole  thing  as  a  real 
estate  deal.  Any  man,  he  said,  who  will  get  his  neigh- 
bor to  buy  a  lot  is  a  thief  and  a  swindler.  In  vain  was 
it  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  investment  in  every  case 
was  a  good  one.  He  was  down  on  it,  and  never  was  so 
happy  as  when,  with  paper  and  pencil  in  hand,  he  could 
show  how  much  more  certain  the  return  would  be  if  in- 
vested in  mining  stock.  He  had  endorsed  for  Seidel, 
and  was  carrying  a  large  block  of  the  stock  himself, 
which  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  get  rid  of  at  an  early  day, 
but,  thus  far,  he  had  little  success.  He  finally  induced 
the  working  men  in  the  mill,  where  he  kept  the  books, 
to  put  up  a  small  sum  each  week  and  carry  a  block  of 
it,  but  this  exhausted  his  powers  of  persuasion,  and  he 
could  do  no  more.  He  would  have  said  more  against 
the  flats,  but  he  dreaded  the  influence  of  Bernheim. 
That  individual  gave  him  his  position,  and  Nagle  was  in 
debted  to  him  and  to  his  wife  for  the  social  standing 
that  his  own  wife  had  secured,  but  he  hated  both  the 
Bernheims,  and  was  only  waiting  in  secret  to  do  them 
an  ill  turn. 

When  Seidel  had  secured  Bob  Lawrence's  signature 
at  the  bank,  Nagle  had  hoped  that  his  own  stock  would 
have  been  taken  off  his  hands,  but  Seidel  would  do 
nothing  of  the  kind,  and  he  veiled  his  flat  refusal  by 
telling  Nagle  that  it  was  not  time  to  unload  yet,  and 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  210, 

that  to  have  him  get  out  now  would  overturn  the  whole 
plan.  When  Nagle  attempted  to  force  him  to  keep  his 
promise,  which  was  to  let  him  out  at  the  first  opportunity, 
he  found  that  his  wife  was  wholly  under  the  influence 
of  Seidel,  and  she  turned  on  him  and  berated  him  for 
thinking  of  forsaking  so  good  a  friend  as  Seidel  had 
been  to  him.  While  Seidel  treated  him  with  cool  con- 
tempt, his  wife  began  to  openly  snub  him  worse  than 
ever.  He  had,  in  the  first-  place,  when  they  talked  of 
going  in  partnership  in  the  stock  deal,  invited  Seidel 
to  take  up  his  quarters  with  him.  He  now  found  that 
he  could  not  rid  himself  of  him.  Seidel  acted  as  if  he 
were  the  real  master  of  the  household,  and  began  to 
bully  him  at  times  in  such  a  manner  that  Nagle  felt  like 
ordering  him  out  of  the  house,  but  Seidel  had  such  an 
influence  over  his  wife,  that  he  did  not  dare  raise  a  row, 
lest  he  should  get  the  worst  of  it. 

A  more  unhappy  man  than  Lurello  Nagle  did  not 
exist. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


While  Charley  Abbott  did  not  attend  the  funeral  of 
his  wife,  owing  to  the  express  commands  of  his  father, 
the  blow  that  he  had  received  sobered  him.  The 
next  day  after  the  funeral,  he  went  out  to  the  Home 
for  the  Friendless,  and,  taking  his  little  daughter  from 
the  care  of  the  matron,  placed  her  in  charge  of  a  member 
of  the  family,  an  old  aunt,  who  had  always  been  proud 
of  him,  and  who  lived  in  a  little  house  at  the  edge  of 
town.  He  threw  himself  into  his  duties  with  some 
care  and  attention  and  forsook  his  old  companions. 
They  at  first  rather  respected  this  and  let  him  alone, 
but  when  they  found  that  he  did  not  care  for  their 
gibes  and  had  settled  down,  it  was  whispered  around 
that  he  had  sowed  his  wild  oats  and  was  beginning  to 
be  a  man.  Old  Mr.  Allen  noticed  this,  and  was  the 
first  one  to  extend  the  hand  of  cordiality  to  him.  He 
told  him  to  come  up  to  the  house  and  see  Annie,  for 
he  was  certain  that  all  might  yet  be  forgiven  and  for- 
gotten. 

One  day  he  had  worked  hard,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
business,  he  passed  the  Allen  house,  when  he  was 
hailed  by  Annie  herself  with,  rt  Oh,  Cholly,  come  in, 
can't  you  ?  " 

He  found  her  in  the  old  position  in  the  rocking- 
chair,  chewing  the  same   everlasting  gum.     She   held 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  221 

out  a  hand  to  him  which  he  took.  "  Annie,'1  said  he, 
"  I  have  not  had  the  heart  to  come  and  see  you  after 
what  has  happened,  but — " 

She  interrupted  him  with  a  giggle,  "Oh,  you  chaps 
are  all  alike.  I  had  an  idea  all  of  the  time  that  you 
were  going  out  with  the  other  boys  and  having  a  time." 

"It  has  been  a  lesson  to  me." 

She  giggled  again.  '* That's  what  Jim  Simpson  is 
always  saying,  and  then  he  will  be  fuller  7n  a  goose  in  a 
week." 

She  continued  to  giggle,  "And  you  were  a  married 
man  all  of  the  time  and  I  didn't  know  it  ?  Cholly, 
it  was  awful  tough.  What  sort  of  a  looking  thing  is 
it?" 

"What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"Why,  the  young'un." 

"  My  daughter  is  a  very  beautiful  child." 

u  Your  daughter,"  she  giggled,  u  oh,  that  is  too  good, 
and  you  just  ought  to  see  your  face  when  you  said 
1  my  daughter.'  It  was  better  than  a  play,"  and  she 
shrieked  with  laughter. 

"  I  do  not  see  anything  to  laugh  at." 

II  Why,"  she  said,  "  you  do  not  mean  that  you  are 
going  to  recognize  the  brat." 

"  I  shall  take  care  of  my  child." 

"  Very  well,  then,  you  will  not  take  care  of  me,"  she 
said  hotly. 
He  bowed. 

II I  am  not  going  to  have  a  child  in  my  house  of 
whose  parentage  you  do  not  know.  Born  in  the  gutter, 
and  like  as  not  growing  up  a  thief." 

"Stop!"  he  cried,  "the  child  is,  before  God,  my 
own,  and  the  woman  who  bore  her  was  my  wife.     I 


222  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

will  not  listen  to  aspersions  that  she  does  not  deserve, 
and  for  crimes  that  I  alone  committed." 

"  Now,  Cholly,"  in  a  wheedling  tone,  M  don't  be  a  fool." 

"  I  have  been  a  villain,  but  I  am  not  going  to  con- 
tinue to  be  one,  if  I  know  myself.1' 

"How  can  we  go  into  society  with  this  thing  hanging 
to  us  ?  Who  would  introduce  the  girl  when  she  gets 
old  enough  to  come  out  ?  What  can  we  do  with  her  ? 
Do  have  some  sense." 

"The  sins  of  the  parent  are  visited  upon  the  child, 
but  I  am  willing  to  try  and  shield  my  little  one  from 
the  consequences  of  my  foolishness.  I  have  no  right 
to  ask  you  to  share  this  burden.  Good-bye,  Annie." 
He  held  out  his  hand  and  grasped  hers,  but  he  felt 
that  there  was  no  response,  and  he  walked  away. 

She  cried  a  little,  then  she  laughed,  then  she  giggled. 
Her  mother  came  out  and  said,  "  What  is  the  matter, 
Annie,  between  you  and  Charley  ?" 

"  Why,  maw,  I  sacked  him." 

11 You  didn't?" 

'•That's  what.  He  wanted  to  bring  that  thing's 
young'un  on  us,  wanted  to  take  it  into  the  house,  and 
I  just  told  him  'nit.'  I  don't  propose  to  hitch  to  any 
one's  young'uns,  leastways  those  that  don't  come  from 
a  straight  source." 

"  You're  right,"  said  her  mother,  rt  there's  as  good 
fish  in  the  sea  as  ever  came  out  of  it." 

And  Charley  Abbott  walked  away  saying  to  himself, 
"  I  will  not  ask  any  one  to  share  this  burden  with  me, 
but  I  will  not  shirk  one  jot  from  the  consequences." 

Thereafter  he  used  to  go  down  to  the  cottage  of  his 
aunt  and  spend  the  evenings  in  company  with  her,  and 
it  was  his  chief  solace,  after  his  day's  work  was  done, 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  223 

to  sit  with  his  daughter  on  his  knee  and  listen  to  her 
prattle. 

When  she  grew  old  enough  to  talk  and  to  call  him 
"Papa"  he  was  delighted,  and  he  would  hold  her  on 
his  lap  for  hours.  He  began  to  look  forward  to  the 
evening  with  impatience,  and  to  watch  for  the  sight  of 
her  sweet  face  at  the  gate,  waiting  for. his  coming. 
When  she  began  to  come  out  to  meet  him  he  felt  a 
glow  at  his  heart  that  astonished  him.  When  she  was 
sick  he  was  in  agony,  and  when  she  became  better  he 
was  the  happiest  man  in  the  world.  The  little  girl 
brought  sunshine  into  his  life.  He  worked  hard,  and 
took  an  interest  in  his  business.  Gradually  he  assumed 
some  of  his  father's  cares,  and  tried  to  mitigate  the 
hard  and  rigorous  rules  over  the  tenants,  but  the  old 
man  had  the  grip  of  the  miser,  and,  while  he  allowed 
his  son  some  small  latitude,  the  main  purse  strings  he 
kept  in  his  own  hands.  As  his  bodily  strength  failed, 
it  only  seemed  to  make  his  intellect  sharper  and 
sharper,  and  to  give  him  renewed  zest  for  making 
money,  and  to  hate,  with  bitter  and  unrelenting  purpose, 
everyone  who  hindered  him  from  making  it.  The 
Bernheim  flats  were  perpetually  thrown  up  in  his  face 
by  his  own  tenants,  some  of  them  used  it  as  an  excuse 
for  not  paying  their  own  rents,  some  as  a  "reason  why 
they  should  get  a  rebate.  He  heard  it  forty  times  a 
month,  until  the  very  mention  of  the  name  sent  him 
off  into  a  fit  of  passion.  He  was  well  content  that 
Charley  should  settle  down,  and  that  at  last  he  should 
have  taken  up  his  home  with  his  aunt  and  little  daugh- 
ter, for  the  reason  that  he  spent  far  less  money  now 
than  he  had  when  with  his  wild  companions.  This  was 
the  crowning  idea  of  Mr.  Abbott's   life.     If   he   could 


224  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

save  money  by  adopting  a  certain  course,  that  was  the 
one  he  pursued.  He  did  not  care  about  his  little 
grandchild,  and  as  long  as  Charley  was  now  living  an 
economical  life,  and  was  not  lavishing  money,  he  felt 
satisfied.  The  disease  of  avarice  had  eaten  into  his 
soul  and  destroyed  all  finer  emotions. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 


Seidel  now  determined  on  a  plan  that  would  realize 
all  of  his  hopes.  He  made  up  his  mind  that  to 
strengthen  his  position  and  increase  the  value  of  his 
holdings,  he  must  have  a  member  of  Congress  whom  he 
could  control.  If  he  did  this,  he  thought  that  he  could 
use  this  power  to  get  his  stocks  listed  on  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange,  for  while  he  had  boasted  that  he  was 
about  to  do  this,  he  had  made  no  progress  whatever. 

"Now,'1  he  said  to  himself,  "if  I  can  go  down  to 
New  York  City  and  say  to  those  fellows,  lI  can  deliver 
.one  vote  to  you  on  anything  you  want.  It  will  cost 
you  no  money,  but  you  must  let  me  in  on  the  ground 
floor  to  certain  things,'  I  can  get  my  stock  listed,  or 
do  anything  else  that  I  want."  People  do  not  buy 
members  of  Congress  nowadays,  they  work  them 
through  influence.  He  felt  that  this  was  feasible,  and 
he  pondered  it  over  long,  turning  it  over  in  his  own 
mind,  he  felt  that  he  knew  how  to  proceed. 

He  looked  about  him  narrowly  and  carefully.  He  at 
first  thought  of  Bob  Lawrence.  If  he  could  get  Bob  to 
run,  which  he  doubted,  would  he  be  able  to  control 
him  afterwards  ?  Here  was  the  rub.  He  had  used 
Bob's  credit  to  the  utmost.  He  had  induced  him  to 
endorse  notes,  and  then  endorse  more,  telling  him  that 
he  had  taken  up  the  first  ones.     Instead  of  doing  this, 

8 


226  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

he  had  renewed  the  first  ones,  and  discounted  the  last. 
He  hoped  to  be  able  to  make  a  turn  before  they  would 
fall  due  ;  if  not,  he  hoped  that  he  could  raise  the  money- 
some  other  way,  He  was  reduced  to  kiting,  borrowing 
money.  He  had  Nagle  completely  drained,  and  he 
smiled  to  see  the  efforts  that  that  individual  made  to 
get  out  of  his  clutches,  the  only  result  being  that  he 
was  more  hopelessly  in  the  toils.  He  had  used  all  the 
money  that  came  into  his  hands  in  living  lavishly,  and 
in  speculating  on  the  market  in  Chicago,  and  a  recent 
drop  in  wheat  had  caught  him  hard,  so  that  he  felt  that 
he  must  make  one  gigantic  effort. 

His  audacity  was  great,  and  if  he  could  get  his  man 
elected  to  Congress,  and  could  use  him  afterwards,  he 
could,  he  felt  sure,  get  into  some  combination  that 
would  help  him  out  of  his  difficulties,  for  Seidel  was  a 
great  believer  in  luck.  He  always  wanted  to  see  the 
new  moon  over  his  right  shoulder,  and  while  he  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  Free-Thinker  and  a  Scientist,  he  was  full 
of  small  superstitions  and  little  observances.  He 
always  blew  twice  in  his  shoes  before  he  put  them  on 
in  the  morning,  would  not  walk  under  a  ladder,  and 
hated  to  spill  the  salt.  It  is  true  that  he  laughed  at 
himself  for  maintaining  these  foolish  notions,  but  he 
did  them,  nevertheless. 

"  Now,"  he  said  to  himself,  "I  want  a  man."  He 
ran  over  in  his  mind  every  one  that  he  knew.  "If  old 
Abbott  had'nt  made  an  ass  of  himself,  I  believe  I  could 
have  run  Charley,  and  got  him  in  with  money  and  the 
young  man's  racket,  but,  of  course,  that  is  out  of  the 
question  now.  There  were  a  good  many  available  men, 
but  some  of  them  were  too  poor,  some  of  them  knew 
too   much,  and   some   knew   too   little.      I  want,"  he 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  227 

argued  to  himself,  "  some  fool  who  is  rich  and  respec- 
table." 

Then  he  thought  of  Radcliff.  He  had  had  Radcliff 
nominated  as  chairman  of  the  meeting  called  to  pro- 
test against  Cavallo  when  that  gentleman  had  so  mag- 
nificently maintained  his  position  and  put  them  down. 
Radcliff  felt  that  he  had  been  placed  in  a  false  position 
that  night,  and  he  had  not  been  on  good  terms  with 
Seidel  since. 

This,  however,  did  not  cut  any  figure  with  Seidel. 
He  was  not  to  be  abashed  by  anything  of  the  sort. 
Radcliff  was  a  wholesale  grocer,  doing  business  on  "  L" 
street,  and  there  Seidel  betook  himself.  He  found  the 
great  man  in  his  orifice  berating  his  clerks.  He  handled 
a  particular  brand  of  cigars  and  he  kept  them  on  a 
high  shelf  in  his  private  orifice.  In  taking  an  account 
of  stock  he  overhauled  a  long  pile  of  these  cigar  boxes. 
He  found  the  front  row  intact,  but  the  boxes  in  the 
back  row  were  all  empty.  The  clerks  and  drummers 
about  the  place  had  been  in  the  habit  of  helping  them- 
selves and  of  putting  the  empty  cigar  boxes  back  of 
the  full  boxes,  leaving  the  front  ones  untouched.  To 
say  that  Mr.  Radcliff  was  mad  when  he  discovered 
this  fact,  is  putting  it  feebly.  He  roared.  He  declared 
that  he  stood  up  there  like  a  chump,  to  be  robbed  ; 
that  he  was  preyed  upon  —  first,  by  his  drummers,  then 
by  his  bookkeepers,  then  by  his  friends,  and  lastly,  by 
his  family. 

He  paced  back  and  forth  through  his  place  and 
shook  his  fist  at  imaginary  foes.  l<  I  am  the  old  cow 
that  gives  all  the  milk,  and  everyone  has  a  pull  at  me. 
Oh,  yes,  it's  '  Mr.  Radcliff,'  when  they  want  anything, 
and  'that  old  fool,'  behind  my  back  ;  I  know  all  about 


228  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

it.  I  have  been  through  the  whole  mill.  I  have  had 
my  leg  pulled  enough,  I  can  tell  you  that,"  and  he 
turned  and  shook  his  fist  again,  this  time  in  the  very 
face  of  Seidel,  who  had  come  in  while  he  was  engaged 
in  his  gesticulation. 

Radcliff  was,  secretly,  rather  glad  that  he  had  done 
this  unwittingly,  so  that  he  could  pretend  that  he  did 
not  see  it.  So  he  said,  "Well,  I  don't  take  back  any 
thing  IVe  said,  for  no  man,"  and  then  he  went  over 
his  woes  for  the  benefit  of  Seidel,  adding,  M  IVe  been 
robbed,  robbed  right  here  under  my  nose,  and  there's 
a  lot  of  thieving  fellers  out  there,  chuckling  and  laugh- 
ing to  themselves  over  it.  Oh,  yes  ;  I  know  it.  I  am 
the  target  for  everything.  When  a  man  gets  out  of 
practice  they  say  to  him :  'Tackle  old  Radcliff,  he'll 
buy  anything  and  take  anything.' " 

Seidel  was  vexed.  He  did  not  want  to  find  his  man 
in  this  mood,  so  he  tried  to  calm  him  down.  He  sym- 
pathized with  him.  Told  him  that  he  had  been  in 
business  too  long  and  he  ought  to  retire,  to  which  Rad- 
cliff returned  only  a  contemptuous  snort,  and  allowed 
that  he  knew  what  he  wanted  as  well  as  anybody  and 
when  he  wanted  to  retire,  he  would  make  up  his  own 
mind.  Nevertheless,  so  strong  was  his  propensity  to 
agree  with  everyone,  that,  after  half  an  hour's  talk,  dur- 
ing which  Seidel  set  before  him  the  duty  he  owed  to 
his  country,  and  how  margins  in  trade  are  getting 
smaller  anoVsmaller  every  year,  requiring  constant  ac- 
cession of  capital,  and  more  and  more  skill  in  handling 
it,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  perhaps  the  best  thing 
that  he  could  do  would  be  to  get  out  of  the  trade, 
where  he  could  not  be  robbed. 

Then  little  by  little  Seidel  unfolded  his  plan  of  run- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  229 

ning  him  for  Congress.  Radcliff  took  the  bait  greedily, 
but  he  was  sharp  enough  to  drive  a  bargain  in  regard 
to  it. 

He  protested  that  he  was  far  from  being  a  rich  man, 
that  he  would  accept  the  duty  and  come  to  the  rescue 
of  his  party  in  this  trying  hour  if  he  could  be  assured 
that  it  would  not  take  a  fortune  to  run.  Seidel  then 
showed  him  figures  that  it  would  not  cost  him  much. 
A  good  sum  could  be  raised  from  the  central  commit- 
tee. He  would  go  among  the  friends  of  the  party  and 
raise  some  more,  and  he  showed  Radcliff,  on  a  card, 
that  he  would  not  have  to  put  up  anything,  if  he  did 
not  wish  to  do  so. 

This  was  what  Radcliff  wanted.  ll  I  will,  then,  ac- 
cept your  proposition,  Mr.  Seidel,  provided  you  take 
off  from  my  hands  all  of  the  financial  responsibility. 
I  will  donate  my  personal  services,  and  will  pay  my 
own  expenses,  but  I  will  not  put  up  a  cent  or  stand 
any  assessment.  I  do  not  wish  to  appear  mean  in 
this  matter,  and  I  shall  simply  turn  the  assessment 
over  to  you,  and  you  are  to  shoulder  it. 

Seidel  hesitated. 

"Come  now,  you  think  so  much  of  my  duty,"  said 
Radcliff,  "  what  do  you  think  of  that  proposition  ?" 

Seidel  cogitated.  If  he  did  this,  why,  it  would  only 
be  binding  the  old  man  closer  to  him,  and  enable 
him  to  take  entire  charge  of  him.  Perhaps  this  was 
what  he  wanted,  so  he  said,  "Very  good,  I  will  under- 
take the  job." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 


The  nominating  convention  was  still  to  be  called, 
but  Seidel  set  to  work.  The  next  morning  the  party 
paper  had  a  long  article  as  the  leading  editorial,  sug- 
gesting that  Mr.  John  Radcliff,  one  of  our  best  busi- 
ness men,  should  be  sent  to  Congress,  adding  that  the 
time  for  lawyers  and  unpractical  people  in  the  halls  of 
our  national  legislature  is  past,  and  that  men  with  ex- 
perience in  affairs  should  be  called  to  the  helm.  This 
editorial  Seidel  wrote  himself.  He  had  some  difficulty 
in  getting  the  article  inserted,  the  editor  flatly  re-fusing 
to  do  so,  saying  that  old  Radcliff  was  a  hog,  and  that  as 
he  had  never  advertised  in  the  paper;  the  paper  should 
not  do  anything  to  help  the  matter  along.  Seidel, 
however,  waited  until  the  editor  had  gone  home  and 
then,  going  into  the  business  office,  bargained  for  the 
insertion  of  a  double-leaded  article  on  the  editorial 
page.  The  clerk  in  charge  insisted  that  he  never  sold 
space  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  columns,  but  Seidel 
laughed  at  him,  and,  finally,  by  offering  him  double 
rates,  he  secured  it.  He  knew  that  there  would  be  a 
scene  the  next  morning,  but  he  thought  that  he  could 
fix  that  up.  In  the  morning  he  prepared  a  petition 
asking  Mr.  Radcliff  to  accept  the  nomination,  and  got 
all  the  prominent  merchants  in  business  to  sign  it. 
Most  of  them  did  so  without  reading  it.     Others  asked 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  23 1 

if  it  was  a  subscription  for  money,  and  on  learning  that 
it  was  not,  they  cheerfully  affixed  their  sign  manuals. 
In  two  hours  he  had  the  names  of  half  the  leading  men 
in  the  place.  They  would  just  as  cheerfully  have 
signed  a  petition  asking  Radcliff  to  go  and  hang  him- 
self, but  this  does  not  militate  against  our  glorious 
system  of  petitions. 

Armed  with  this,  Seidel  presented  himself  to  the 
counting  room  of  the  newspaper.  The  business  man- 
ager said,  "Jones,  the  editor,  is  mad  over  the  trick  you 
played  on  him." 

"Oh,  he  is  ;  send  him  down." 

In  such  a  contest  the  first  word  is  more  than  half  the 
battle.  When,  therefore,  Jones  put  in  an  appearance, 
Seidel  began  on  him,  told  him  that  he  was  a  baby  in 
politics,  that  instead  of  being  the  first  to  come  out  and 
nominate  the  coming  man,  he  wanted  to  hang  back  and 
let  some  other  one  do  it  and  then  come  sneaking  along, 
trying  to  get  into  the  band  wagon  when  it  was  ever- 
lastingly too  late.  He  showed  him  the  petition. 
"  Look,  here  is  a  petition  signed  by  every  leading  man 
in  the  party,  and  a  lot  of  the  independents,  begging 
Radcliff  to  take  the  nomination.  He  will  accept.  Do 
you  want  the  first  news,  or  don't  you?'1  His  magnifi- 
cent cheek  astonished  the  editor,  and  he  could  only 
gasp:  "This  is  the  first  I  have  heard  of  it,  or  rather 
you  are  the  only  one  that  has  told  me  anything  about 
Radcliff." 

"There  you  go,  you  are  asleep.  Get  into  the  band 
wagon,  now,  I  tell  you,  or  you  will  be  left.  Come  out 
to-morrow,  and  say,  '  Our  suggestion  ot  yesterday  has 
been  eagerly  taken  up  by  the  great  body  of  voters,  and 
the  name  of  Mr.  John  Radcliff,  for  Congress,  has  been 


232  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

received  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.7     Take  all  the 
credit  for  it,  and  push  it." 

The  business  manager  eagerly  chimed  in,  "Of  course, 
that's  what  we  will  do.  And  you  will  want  a  lot  of 
extra  papers  struck  off  with  his  acceptance  in,  won't 
you  ? 

"  Yes  ;  give  me  five  hundred,"  said  Seidel,  and  off  he 
went. 

As  soon  as  he  had  turned  the  corner,  and  got  out  of 
sight  of  the  newspaper  office,  he  burst  into  a  laugh. 
"If  they  made  me  pay  double  rates  for  the  editorial,  I 
will  get  even  with  them  on  the  acceptance." 

So  he  went  to  the  reading-room  in  the  hotel,  and 
wrote  a  glowing  acceptance  of  the  nomination,  refer- 
ing  to  the  fact  that  he  had  always  been  willing  to  sink 
his  own  peace  and  comfort  for  his  party.  He  filled  the 
letter  of  acceptance  with  the  most  patriotic  phrases 
he  could  think  of.  Then  he  chuckled  :  M  Now,  I  wont 
even  read  it  to  the  old  fool  ;  I  won't  gratify  him  that 
much.'" 

He  took  it  down  to  the  grocery  store,  and  found 
Radcliff  just  opening  the  morning  paper. 

"  Radcliff,  sign  this,  please." 

"What  is  it,  a  lightning  rod  note  ?" 

"No,  it  is  no  lightning  rod  note,  it  won't  even  cost 
you  a  pound  of  sugar  ;  it's  politics." 

"  All  right,  if  you  say  it's  right,  I'll  sign." 

Away  Seidel  went,  and  had  it  affixed  to  his  petition 
from  the  business  men.  Then  he  wrote  an  editorial, 
lauding  Radcliff,  and  showing  what  a  sacrifice  that 
gentleman  was  making  to  accept  the  office  at  this  time, 
and  how  he  was  willing  to  forego  his  own  ease  and  his 
own  business,  and  devote  himself  to  the  burning  ques- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  233 

tions  of  the  hour.  He  wrote  until  the  foreman  expos- 
tulated. 

"  I  might  as  well  tell  you  that  we  have  a  baking 
powder  *  ad.'  on  the  editorial  page,  and  if  you  put  in 
that  long  petition  and  long  editorial  it  will  fill  the 
whole  thing.     You  had  better  stop." 

So  Seidel  had  to  stop  after  having  likened  Radcliff  to 
Cincinnatus.  He  was  going  to  call  him  the  Lincoln  of 
his  party. 

He  had  spent  the  whole  forenoon  in  thus  manufac- 
turing a  patriot.  Then  he  went  over  to  the  hotel  to 
dinner.  The  clerk  informed  him  that  Mr.  Radcliff  had 
been  there  to  see  him. 

"  He  has,  has  he  !  If  he  comes  in  while  I  am  eating, 
send  him  up."  Seidel  had  finished  his  soup  and  fish, 
and  was  on  his  way  down  the  bill  of  fare  to  coffee  and 
nuts,  when  Mr.  Radcliff  came  in,  looking  all  around 
the  room,  as  if  he  wanted  some  one  very  much  indeed. 

Seidel  spied  him,  and  sent  the  waiter  over  to  tell  him 
to  come  to  his  table. 

He  did  so,  sat  down,  and  then,  in  a  low  voice,  Rad- 
cliff whispered  :  "Where  was  you?  I  have  hunted  all 
over  to  find  you." 

"  I  was  engaged  in  a  little  business  of  importance. 
What  is  the  trouble?" 

Radcliff  dropped  his  voice  again  and  said,  "Did  you 
see  the  morning  paper?" 

"Yes,  I  saw  it." 

"Did  you  read  that  article  about  me?" 

"Yes,  I  read  it." 

"Well,  hadn't  there  ought  to  be  something  done 
about  it?" 

Seidel  enjoyed   his   confusion,  and,  at  last,  he  said, 


234  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"  Oh,  Radcliff !  and  you  told  me  that  you  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  five  years  and 
knew  all  about  politics.  Why,  my  dear  sir,  a  petition 
has  been  prepared,  duly  signed  by  the  leading  men  of 
the  party,  asking  you  to  run  for  Congress.  You  have 
replied  to  it  in  burning  words,  stating  that  you  would 
much  prefer  the  paths  of  private  life,  but  that  if  it  is 
felt,  that  you  can  better  serve  the  interests  of  your  fel- 
low-citizens in  a  public  than  in  a  private  capacity,  there 
is  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  you  to  make,  no  burden  too 
heavy  for  you  to  bear.  In  short,"  said  Seidel,  "you  are 
willing  to  run  and  mighty  glad  of  the  chance,  although 
you  don't  say  so.  This  glowing  exordium  is  now  in 
type  and  will  be  printed  in  the  morning." 

"That's  right.  This  is  just  what  I  was  going  to 
suggest  should  be  done,"  Radcliff  replied.  "  Good 
enough.  I  will  order  three  papers  to-morrow  morning 
and  send  them  to  some  of  my  friends." 

"Three  papers,"  said  Seidel,  scornfully. 

"  I'll  make  it  five." 

A  contemptuous  reply  came  to  Seidell  lips,  then  he 
checked  himself.  As  by  the  terms  of  the  contract,  he 
was  forced  to  pay  all  the  bills,  what  difference  did  it 
make  to  him  how  many  papers  he  ordered.  Let  him 
quarrel  with  the  newspaper  men  over  that. 

He  resumed  his  meal,  while  Radcliff  bored  him  with 
a  long  account  of  how  he  was  going  to  run  the  cam- 
paign, what  a  high  position  he  was  going  to  take. 

Seidel,  wearied  with  his  talk,  ended  it.  "  Radcliff, 
do  you  want  to  know  how  to  be  elected  ?" 

11  Yes,  I  want  all  the  information  I  can  get." 

"  Well,  then,  remember  Bismarck's  maxim  :  '  The 
party  that  makes  the  most  promises  carries  the  elec- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  235 

tions.'  Don't  be  afraid,  but  promise  everybody  every- 
thing." 

And  with  these  words  he  arose  from  the  table,  and 
motioning  Radcliff  to  go  before,  walked  out  of  the 
dining-room.  Once  out,  he  bade  his  candidate  good 
day,  leaving  him  staring  after  him. 

Radcliff  thought,  "  He's  a  smart  fellow,  if  he  does 
put  on  a  good  many  airs." 

Seidel's  reflections  were  :  •*  The  double-dyed  ass  to 
talk  to  me  about  what  ought  to  be  done.  I'd  like  to 
have  him  out  in  Colorado  running  on  an  independent 
ticket.  Would'nt  the  boys  skin  his  pocket-book  for 
him?  If  they  didn't,"  he  added  grimly,  "they  would 
shoot  his  hat  full  of  holes. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


Once  started  on  his  career  of  manufacturing  states- 
men, Seidel  found  it  easy  sailing.  There  was  very 
little  opposition,  and  of  those,  one  he  promised  the 
collectorship,  another  the  postoffice.  He  gave  one 
man  the  patronage  of  his  county,  and  induced  another 
to  run  for  the  state  senate.  In  this  way  he  finally 
placated  all  the  factions,  so  that  when  the  convention 
was  called  there  was  no  opposition.  To  be  sure,  in 
order  to  make  the  party  harmonious,  he  had  called 
several  of  the  caucuses  in  the  lower  wards  in  saloons, 
and  had  selected  delegates  beforehand,  voting  them  in, 
and  then,  adjourning  the  caucus  before  any  one  knew 
much  what  had  been  done.  In  other  cases  he  had  a 
gang  outside,  and  when  the  Committee  on  Credentials 
met,  they  were  empowered  to  fill  all  vacancies,  so  that 
he  had  a  large  majority  of  delegates  pledged  to  Rad- 
cliff.  It  cost  him  a  good  deal  to  do  this,  but  he  felt 
that  this  was  his  master-stroke,  and  he  must  make  it  a 
success.  He  would  not  have  cared  so  much  if  he  had 
not  lostjso  heavily  on  wheat,  but  he  consoled  himself 
by  saying,  "  after  all  it  is  not  my  money  that  I  am 
spending,  it  belongs  to  my  creditors." 

He  did  not  dare  trust  himself  to  hear  his  candidate 
respond  to  the  call  after  he  had  been  duly  nominated, 
but  went  into  a  side  room.     As  he  expected,  Radcliff 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  237 

put  his  foot  in  it,  telling  his  hearers,  the  first  thing,  that 
he  was  proud  to  meet  4tthe  wealth,  intelligence  and 
aristocracy  of  the  district  in  convention  assembled." 
At  which  bull  there  went  up  a  great  shout  and  roar. 
However,  Radcliff  then  alluded  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  many 
years,  and  had  served  on  the  Bridge  Committee,  and 
this  was  not  so  bad.  Seidel  at  last  got  him  down  and 
out  to  the  nearest  saloon,  where  he  made  him  set  the 
beer  up  to  the  crowd. 

Even  then,  Radcliff  took  him  out  one  side,  and  told 
him,  in  a  burst  of  generosity,  that  he  did  not  mind 
spending  money  for  a  little  beer  on  an  occasion  like 
this,  and  he  should  not  charge  this  up  to  him  as  an 
item  of  expense. 

This  notification  that  Radcliff  intended  to  hold  him 
up  to  the  contract  disgusted  Seidel  more  and  more,  but 
he  was  in  for  it,  and  must  play  his  hand  out,  he  thought. 

41 1  am  like  the  Spartan  youth,  I  must  return  with  my 
shield,  or  upon  it." 

It  was  not  Seidel's  nature  to  do  anything  by  halves, 
and  he  threw  himself  into  the  work  with  a  will.  He 
organized  all  the  thugs  into  a  club,  and  had  them 
parade  through  the  city,  calling  them  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  people.  "The  bone  and  sinew  "  sig- 
nalized their  advent  into  the  respectable  portion  of  the 
town  by  getting  drunk,  and  tearing  down  signs,  smash- 
ing window  panes  and  doing  like  depredations.  In  their 
parade,  they  tipped  over  all  of  the  apple-stands,  all  of 
the  peanut  roasters,  and  threw  all  the  boxes  on  the  line 
of  march  into  the  streets.  Then  they  howled,  and 
ended  by  insulting  decent  people,  until  the  more 
respectable  citizens  shut  themselves  up  in  their  homes. 


238  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

The  papers  next  day  called  the  organization  "  Rad- 
cliff's  Lambs,"  and  the  Mayor  called  upon  that  worthy, 
and  told  him  that  while  he  wanted  to  maintain  strict 
neutrality  between  the  parties,  if  his  *  Lambs"  made 
any  more  such  demonstrations,  he  would  have  the 
whole  lot  run  in.  The  next  day  they  called  upon 
Seidel  for  instructions,  and  he  told  them  that  they  were 
a  disgrace  to  the  ticket,  and  that  they  must  confine 
themselves  to  their  end  of  the  city. 

Seidel  saw  that  he  must  have  more  money.  He  went 
to  the  leading  gamblers  and  sporting  men,  and  told 
them  that  they  must  come  to  the  relief  of  the  party. 
This  they  were  willing  to  do,  if  they  could  have  some 
guarantee  that  they  would  be  allowed  to  run.  He 
tried  to  get  it  for  them,  and  the  result  was  that  they 
quarrelled  among  themselves,  at  last,  the  facts  leaked 
out,  and  the  whole  thing  came  down  on  Seidel's 
head,  in  the  shape  of  an  expose  by  Herr  Muller, 
who  raked  Radcliff  fore  and  aft,  and  that  gentleman 
came  in  hot  haste  to  Seidel,  and  told  him  that  he  must 
stop  his  work  or  the  ticket  would  be  ruined. 

Seeing  no  way  out  of  it,  Seidel  boldly  staked  his 
last  money  on  the  throw.  He  organized  clubs,  he  got 
up  political  meetings,  and  he  set  out  to  have  a  hot 
campaign.  His  party  associates  warned  him  not  to  go 
too  fast.  "You  have  got  no  opposition  as  yet,  they 
said,  what  is  the  use  of  starting  in  so  early?"  but  Seidel 
wanted  to  show  that  he  alone  was  running  it,  and  that 
if  he  made  a  vigorous  fight  now.it  would  frighten  every 
one  off  the  track,  and  he  would  have  a  walk-away.  He 
said,  "Every  one  else  economizes  money  the  first  week 
of  the  campaign,  and  the  last  week  throws  it  away  by 
handfuls.     Let  us  adopt  the  opposite  policy." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  239 

In  pursuance  of  his  plan,  he  organized,  in  every  ward, 
gangs  of  men,  most  of  them  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser 
sort,  who  spent  their  time  in  saloons  yelling  for  Rad- 
cliff,  and  shouting  that  they  were  going  to  have  a 
liberal  government. 

They  would  get  out  and  have  torch-light  processions, 
and  these  were  accompanied  with  much  noise  and 
tumult,  generally  ending  in  a  drunken  fight.  Radcliff 
was  delighted  with  this  at  first,  particularly  when  it 
cost  him  nothing,  and  as  he  heard  his  name  on  every 
corner,  he  thought  that  he  was  making  progress. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


Seidel  now  began  to  see  that  the  opposition  were  be- 
ginning to  get   together,  and    the   chances  were   that 
they  would  select  a  man.     Then  he  determined  on  a 
master  stroke.      He  sent  men  into  every  ward  and  pre- 
cinct and  attended  the  primaries  of  the  other  side,  and 
placed  his  men  on  the  delegations  wherever  he  could. 
He  secured,  on.  the  day  of  the  nomination,  a  majority 
of  the  committee  on  organization,  and  he  had  all  of  his 
men  accepted  as  delegates.     Then  he  cleverly  sprung 
on  the  convention  the   name  of  a  new  man  who  was 
vouched  for  as  a  warm  partizan.    He  was  a  lawyer  in  an 
adjoining  county.     As  no  one  knew  much  about  him 
he  was  nominated,  and  the  convention  adjourned.     It 
was  two  or  three  days  afterwards  before  it  was  noised 
around  that  the  nominee  was  thoroughly  disreputable, 
far  worse  than  Radcliff.     This  assured  Radcliff's  elec- 
tion, and  that  gentleman,  in   his  incautious   zeal    and 
vanity,  went  about  boasting  of  what  Seidel  had  done. 
Seidel  heard   of  it,  and,  going  down  to  Radcliff,  gave 
him  a  scoring  for   thus   revealing   the  whole   plan   of 
battle,  and  under  cover  ot  what  a  bull  he  had  made, 
forced   that   gentleman    to    endorse  his    note   for  five 
thousand  dollars.     He  took  this  over  to  Radcliff's  own 
bank  and  induced  them  to  discount  it.     When  he  had 
done  this  he  tucked  the  money  away  and  took  a  great 
breath.     "This,  at  least,  tides  me  over." 


DOCTOR   CWALLO  24 1 

Then  he  added:  "Now  I  am  safe."  The  tide  was 
running  in  favor  of  Radcliff,  for  a  quarrel  had  sprung 
up  among  the  men  to  whose  party  the  old  lawyer  be- 
longed, and  everyone  was  charging  the  others  with 
being  the  tool  of  Seidel  and  of  having  sold  out.  In 
the  melee,  Radcliff  would  run  in  without  question,  for 
he  was  a  much  better  man  than  his  opponent.  Seidel 
chuckled,  and  rubbed  his  hands  with  glee.  He  called 
on  the  Mayor  and  insisted  in  the  name  of  the  party  on 
the  town  "being  run  wide  open,"  telling  him  that  it 
would  make  him  popular  with  the  business  interests. 
It  did  not  take  long  for  the  intelligence  to  be  noised 

abroad  that  "everything  went"  in  the  city  of  P , 

and  shortly  afterwards  an  influx  of  confidence  men, 
thieves,  gamblers,  and  every  conceivable  kind  of  para- 
site flocked  in.  The  nights  began  to  be  saturnalias, 
and  the  days  filled  with  drunken  revelery.  A  wave 
of  crime  swept  over  the  city,  burglaries  became 
common  and  assaults  frequent,  respectable  citizens 
were  knocked  down  and  robbed.  Stores  were  broken 
open,  thefts  became  frequent,  and  a  general  cry  arose 
against  the  administration.  By  this  time  the  danger- 
ous classes  had  enormously  increased.  They  were 
powerful  enough  to  compel  Seidel  to  use  his  influence 
with  the  Mayor  and  get  some  of  them  appointed  on 
the  police,  and  then  the  thefts  became  more  and  more 
frequent.  The  newly  appointed  men  speedily  inocu- 
lated the  whole  force  with  their  spirit,  and  if  a  thief 
was  willing  to  divide,  they  found  a  way  of  silencing  all 
complaints.  If  a  man  came  to  the  city  hall  with  a  tale 
of  robbery,  if  he  were  a  stranger,  they  locked  him  up 
and  kept  him  until  he  agreed  to  leave;  if  a  resi- 
dent, they  told  him  that  if  he  would  keep  still  they 


242  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

would  see  if  his  property  could  not  be  restored.  Then, 
if  he  made  continued  inquiry,  they  would  give  him 
part  of  it  and  keep  the  rest.  In  this  way  they  stifled  all 
complaint,  and  the  newspapers  were  told  only  of  small 
events,  the  little  incidents,  and  the  public  did  not  learn 
of  the  graver  matters  that  were  kept  under  cover. 
Seidel  acted  as  the  go-between  the  parasites  and  the 
police,  and  he  was  kept  busy  in  arranging  meetings,  in 
giving  straw  bail,  and  in  making  the  thugs  keep  some- 
where within  bounds. 

As  he  was  making  a  profit  out  of  the  whole  thing,  it 
was  his  interest  to  keep  it  up  as  long  as  possible,  when 
an  incident  occurred  that  produced  an  explosion. 

Richard  Holmes  was  an  old  gentleman,  very  benevo- 
lent and  public  spirited.  He  had  been  down  town  one 
afternoon  and  was  returning  home  for  supper.  It  was 
hardly  dark,  when  he  was  set  upon  by  a  couple  of  ruf- 
fians, and  in  a  public  street,  and  within  reach  almost 
of  his  own  front  door,  he  was  knocked  down,  brutally 
kicked  and  beaten,  and  his  watch  and  pocket  book 
taken  from  him.  A  member  of  his  family  saw  the 
whole  occurrence  from  the  window  of  the  house,  gave 
the  alarm,  and  Mr.  Holmes  was  carried  into  his  home 
nearly  dead.  This  was  an  outrage  that  could  not  be 
concealed,  and  the  next  morning  the  newspapers  gave 
full  particulars.  For  several  days  Mr.  Holmes  wavered 
between  life  and  death,  but  he  slowly  rallied.  The 
police  made  vigorous  efforts,  apparently,  to  trace  the 
perpetrators  of  the  dastardly  outrage,  and  finally  they 
returned  Mr.  Holmes'  watch,  saying  that  it  had  been 
sent  back  by  mail,  but  the  thugs  who  stole  it  had  given 
no  clue  to  their  whereabouts. 

Then  Herr  Muller  came  to  the  front.     He  published 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  243 

an  article  in  English  in  his  paper,  denouncing  the 
whole  affair,  its  perpetrators  and  its  originators. 
He  said  that  it  was  evident  that  to  simply  pursue  the 
wretches  who  had  committed  this  crime,  would  amount 
to  but  little,  the  work  must  begin  far  back  of  them. 
This  he  distributed  all  over  the  city. 

It  created  a  tremendous  sensation.  Forseeing  the 
probable  wreck  of  all  his  hopes,  Seidel  visited  the 
leading  men  of  the  party,  and  had  a  conference  at 
Radcliff's,  in  which  each  one  withdrew  his  patronage 
from  Herr  Muller,  and  served  notice  on  him  that  they 
would  not  patronize  his  paper,  as  long  as  he  con- 
tinued his  course  of  maligning  his  own  people.  As 
the  protest  was  signed,  it  presented  a  pretty  formidable 
list,  and  Seidel  chuckled  to  himself  as  he  took  it  in, 
laid  it  down  on  Herr  Muller's  desk  and  asked  him  to 
look  over  it.  He  paid  no  attention  to  it,  and  Seidel 
went  away  feeling  contempt  for  Herr  Muller,  and  the 
quiet  way  in  which  he  submitted  to  his  dictation. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


The  next  day  he  picked  up  Herr  Muller's  paper  and 
was  amazed  to  find  that  the  letter  was  published  in  full, 
with  every  name  attached,  and  that  Muller  had  attacked 
every  man  who  had  thus  attempted  to  shield  the  ras- 
cality of  the  administration  and  cover  up  the  crime. 
He  told  them  that  they  were  acting  a  part,  and  that 
they  fancied  they  were  maintaining  their  allegiance  to 
their  party,  when  they  were  the  mere  puppets  of  the 
bold  conspirator  who  stood  behind  them,  and  whose 
name  was  Seidel,  an  adventurer,  a  scoundrel,  a  villain, 
and  a  mere  speculator  in  false  securities  and  fictitious 
mining  shares.  The  article  closed  with  an  appeal  for 
every  good  citizen  to  meet  in  the  hall  that  evening  and 
form  an  association  to  protect  the  good  name  of  the 
city  against  the  present  practices. 

Herr  Muller  was  not  the  man  to  hesitate.  Having 
picked  up  the  gage  of  battle,  he  flooded  the  city  with 
handbills,  in  German  and  English,  calling  upon  every- 
one to  come  out  to  the  meeting. 

That  night  the  hall  was  packed,  Herr  Muller  took 
the  stand  himself,  and,  after  calling  the  meeting  to 
order,  asked  the  assembly  to  nominate  a  chairman.  He 
was  chosen  to  the  position  himself.  He  accepted  it, 
and  in  a  speech  of  great  power  and  force,  he  depicted 
the  evils  under  which  the  taxpayers  were  groaning,  the 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  245 

awful  state  of  the  city,  at  the  mercy  of  villains,  with 
gamblers  dictating  the  policy  of  the  administration, 
and  thieves  on  the  police  force  dividing  the  plunder 
with  the  thieves  in  the  street.  Other  speakers  followed, 
and  at  the  close,  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  part- 
ners of  Mr.  Holmes,  a  Civic  Federation  was  formed, 
and  committees  were  appointed  to  procure  signers. 

The  next  day  the  city  was  in  a  fever  of  enthusiasm, 
and  signers  to  the  Civic  Federation  poured  in  hot  and 
furious,  a  headquarters  was  rented,  and  the  work  begun. 
The  Women's  Club  was  asked  to  assist,  and  promptly 
the  members  met,  and  passed  a  resolution  endorsing 
the  work  of  the  federation,  pledged  themselves  to 
assist,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  join  the  feder- 
ation in  anything  in  which  they  could  act,  either  singly 
or  as  a  club. 

Seidel  listened  disdainfully  to  the  accounts  of  the 
meeting  and  to  the  fears  of  Radcliff.  ll  Now,  don't 
you  be  a  fool,''  he  said,  "  They  have  nominated  no 
one,  and  the  time  will  soon  be  past  when  they  can  do 
so.  If  you  will  simply  lay  low,  and  keep  that  mouth 
of  yours  shut,  you  will  be  all  right.  You  are  liable  to 
go  around,  and  suggest  to  these  fools  just  what  we 
don't  want  them  to  do." 

The  Civic  Federation  thus  formed,  took  hold  of  the 
work  of  purification,  but  at  every  turn  they  felt  the 
malign  hand  of  Seidel  in  opposition.  If  they  preferred 
charges  against  a  policeman,  they  found  that  the  case 
was  put  off,  or  they  were  told  that  the  witnesses  could 
not  be  had,  or  the  policeman  would  be  suspended. 
Then  they  would  find  that  he  had  been  put  on  special 
duty,  so  that  his  pay  went  on  just  the  same,  and  he 
really  received  more  favors  on  account  of  the  charges 


246  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

than  he  did  before.     It  was  felt  that  he  was  rewarded 
for  being  made  a  martyr. 

In  this  manner  Seidel  steadily  neutralized  the  efforts 
of  the  committee,  and  strove  against  the  opposition. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


Dr.  Cavallo  watched  the  progress  of  the  strife  with  a 
good  deal  of  interest.  He  saw  the  aim  of  the  Feder- 
ation, and  he  saw,  too,  that  Seidel's  plan  would  result 
in  success,  for  he  was  wearing  out  the  other  side.  The 
doctor  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Federation  one  night, 
at  which  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  Women's  Club  were 
present.  The  interest  in  the  meeting  was  dying 
out,  and  to  emphasize  it,  a  gang  of  hoodlums  from  the 
Ham  Heads  came  into  the  back  part  of  the  hall,  and 
began  to  create  a  disturbance.  Several  times  Herr 
Muller  called  them  to  order,  but  they  were  noisy  and 
disagreeable.  At  last  he  said,  half  humorously,  "  Where 
are  the  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation football  team,  they  might  rid  us  of  this  annoy- 
ance ?  "  At  this  half  a  dozen  young  men,  belonging 
to  the  club,  arose  in  the  house,  and,  forming  in  line, 
made  a  rush  at  the  Ham  Heads.  There  was  a  struggle, 
a  contest,  but  the  rough  elements  were  no  match  for 
the  muscular  young  students  who  composed  the  foot- 
ball team.  They  speedily  drove  the  roughs  before 
them  out  of  the  door,  downstairs  and  into  the  street. 
This  done,  they  came  back,  and  were  received  with 
uproarious  applause. 

Herr  Muller  stated  that  something  must  be  done  to 
keep  alive  the  interest  of  the  federation.     For  his  part, 


248  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

he  was  willing  to  work,  but  he  must  see  that  his  efforts 
were  sustained  by  the  better  element  in  the  community. 
He  wanted  them  to  feel  that  he  was  representing  their 
cause,  not  his  own.  He  would  like  to  hear  from  Dr. 
Cavallo. 

The  doctor  arose  and  said  that  while  he  was  heartily 
in  favor  of  this  movement,  he  could  readily  see  where  the 
trouble  was.  They  were  fighting  without  any  apparent 
object.  A  tramp  was  once  told  that  he  could  have  a 
dollar  and  a  half  if  he  would  pound  a  log  all  day  with 
the  head  of  his  ax.  He  consented,  but  after  an  hour's 
work  he  gave  it  up,  saying  that  he'd  be  hanged  if  he 
would  chop  without  seeing  the  chips  fly. 

This  was  the  trouble  with  the  Civic  Federation. 
They  were  doing  nothing.  The  American  people  want 
action,  not  mere  protests.  If  they  wish  to  accomplish 
results,  they  must  do  something.  Now,  what  can 
they  do  ?  Why,  it  is  well  known  that  the  whole  aim 
of  the  evil  element  that  has  been  dominating  the 
city,  is  to  elect  Radcliff  to  Congress.  The  first  thing  that 
must  be  done  is  to  nominate  a  strongman  against  him. 
When  that  is  accomplished,  the  next  thing  is  to  take 
hold  of  the  city  administration  and  purify  that.  He 
followed  in  a  glowing  strain  for  united  work,  and  for 
action  that  promised  deSnite  results. 

Herr  Muller  responded  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
doctor  coincided  with  his  own,  and  he  would  heartily 
second  his  remarks,  which  he  would  do  by  nominating 
Dr.  Cavallo  for  the  standard  bearer  in  the  coming 
campaign. 

This  was  received  with  applause,  at  the  close  of 
which,  Dr.  Cavallo  said  that  he  was  not  a  candidate  for 
the  place,  and  under  no  circumstances  would  he  accept. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  249 

Herr  Muller  was  the  man  for  the  fight,  and  on  Herr 
Muller  the  burden  must  fall. 

Herr  Muller  replied  that  the  reform  movement  really 
dated  from  the  time  that  the  doctor  had  made  his 
speech  against  race  prejudice  in  that  very  hall,  at  a 
public  meeting  called  to  denounce  him  for  his  acts  of 
charity  and  mercy.  That  the  key  note  of  the  cam- 
paign would  be  along  the  lines  that  he  had  laid  down. 
It  was  a  duty  that  Dr.  Cavallo  owed  to  the  community 
to  make  this  fight,  for  unless  he  did  it,  the  whole  thing 
would  fall  by  the  wayside. 

The  doctor  positively  refused,  saying  that  his  pro- 
fession took  up  all  of  his  time,  and  he  could  not  give 
it  up.  In  this  undecided  manner  the  meeting  was 
about  to  break  up,  when  the  captain  of  the  football 
team  arose  and  said,  that,  while  he  was  a  young  man 
and  did  not  purpose  to  give  advice  to  his  elders,  he 
would  like  to  suggest  that  they  defer  the  discussion  of 
the  theme  until  the  next  evening,  and  that  they  call  a 
mass  meeting  to  consider  it. 

This  was  carried  and  the  meeting  adjourned.  Just 
as  Dr.  Cavallo  was  leaving  the  hall,  a  small  boy  put  a 
note  into  his  hand.  He  took  it  back  to  his  office  and 
saw  that  it  was  from  Margaret.  He  opened  it.  There 
was  but  one  line  in  it.  It  was  the  words  of  Bailly,  the 
great  French  academician,  on  taking  his  seat  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  first  Assembly  : 

"  A  good  citizen  will  neither  seek,  nor  refuse,  office." 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


The  next  day,  Dr.  Cavallo  tasted  to  the  full,  the 
sweets  of  popularity.  Every  one,  it  seemed  to  him,  of 
note,  called  on  him  and  urged  him  to  accept  the  nomi- 
nation, but  still  he  hesitated.  He  knew  the  enormous 
work  that  would  devolve  upon  him,  and  what  a  load  he 
would  have  to  sustain.  He  went  over  it  again  and 
again  and  he  did  not  see  how  he  could  accept  it,  and 
every  time,  just  as  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  refuse, 
Margaret's  line  came  up  in  his  mind:  "A  good  citi- 
zen will  neither  seek,  nor  refuse,  office." 

His  professional  career  was  very  dear  to  him.  He 
was  just  getting  where  his  reputation  as  a  physician 
was  advancing  with  great  strides.  He  was  beginning 
to  be  regarded  as  an  authority.  If  he  wished  for 
wealth,  the  time  was  not  far  distant,  at  the  rate  he  was 
progressing,  when  he  could  look  forward  to  an  enormous 
practice.  He  would  rather  have  his  professional  repu- 
tation than  all  of  the  political  honors  in  the  world. 

And  he  was  now  asked  to  abandon  all  of  this,  for 
what?  Why,  to  prevent  a  low  adventurer,  for  so  he 
now  classed  Seidel,  from  running  a  respectable  hum- 
drum old  grocer  for  Congress. 

It  looked  to  him  as  if  the  people  ought  not  to  ask 
this  sacrifice  of  him.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Margaret's 
note  he  would  have  laughed  the  proposition  to  scorn. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  25 1 

As  it  was,  he  went  to  see  Herr  Muller,  and  to  beg 
him  to  take  the  burden  off  his  shoulders. 

uNo,"  said  Herr  Muller,  "you  must  accept  the  nom- 
ination." 

uYou  know  that  I  carry  weight  in  this  contest,  for  I 
am  a  Jew." 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  "and  it  will  bring  up  all  the 
mud  against  you,  and  if  you  were  not  a  Jew,  I  would 
not  press  this  matter  so  hard,  but  now  is  your  oppor- 
tunity to  vindicate  your  race  and  show  them  that  the 
Jew  stands  on  as  high  a  plane  of  earnest  endeavor  to 
achieve  good  government  as  the  best.  He  has  suffered 
under  bad  government  too  long  not  to  earnestly  desire 
every  reform  possible." 

He  spent  the  afternoon  hating  the  time  when  the  even- 
ing meeting  should  be  called.  Once  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  stay  away,  and  yet,  he  felt  that  if  he  should,  his 
motives  would  be  misconstrued.  He  was  miserable. 
Here,  he  had  settled  plans  for  life  and  he  was  working 
them  out  to  his  own  satisfaction,  when  they  were 
changed,  through  no  fault  of  his,  and  his  whole  future 
as  a  professional  man  blasted  by  an  unforseen  and 
unfortunate  occurrence.  Why  could  not  the  public  let 
him  alone?  Why  did  he  make  that  unlucky  speech 
that  evening?  If  he  had  had  the  remotest  idea  that  his 
words  would  have  been  turned  on  him  he  never  would 
have  made  it.  But  being  out  of  politics,  and  never 
having  taken  part  in  the  turmoil  and  scramble  of  office 
seeking,  he  had  considered  it  as  something  remote,  and 
now  it  was  thrust  into  his  face. 

In  this  mood  of  discontent  and  thorough  disgust 
with  himself,  he  went  to  the  hall  and  sat  down  in  a 
seat  far  back ;  but  he  was  seen  and  made  to  take  a  place  on 


252  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  stage.  He  tried  to  escape  this,  but  his  friends 
would  not  allow  him  to  refuse,  and  when  the  little 
crowd  of  three  or  four  were  discovered  slowly  making 
their  way  down  to  the  front,  for  the  hall  was  densely 
packed,  a  shout  went  up  that  drowned  all  other  noises. 
It  was  a  hearty  welcome. 

The  chairman  had  already  been  chosen,  and  he  was 
making  a  long  speech  on  the  necessity  of  every  honest 
citizen  standing  up  to  the  work  of  the  Federation. 

When  he  closed,  Herr  Muller  said  that  it  was  well- 
known  why  they  had  assembled.  They  had  become 
weary  of  fighting  the  enemy  without  ammunition. 
Now  they  proposed  to  attack  him  in  his  stronghold, 
and  to  do  this  they  must  have  a  man  of  purpose,  a  man 
of  convictions,  to  head  the  ticket.  The  confederation 
had  determined  to  put  up  a  man  for  Congress  who 
would  represent  the  ideas  and  purposes  of  the  federa- 
tion, that  is,  the  demand  for  better  government  and  for 
reform  in  the  admistration  of  it.  There  was  but  one 
man  who  would  answer  the  demand,-  and  this  man  was 
Dr.  Cavallo.  The  crowd  roared  its  approval,  and  the 
doctor  arose  to  speak.  When  he  got  up  he  was  more 
inclined  than  ever  to  refuse.  He  was  a  brave  man,  but 
the  contest  was  not  to  his  liking. 

As  he  arose,  the  line  of  Margaret's  note  came  to  his 
mind,  and  this  still  more  depressed  him. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


He  began  listlessly,  and,  as  he  stopped  for  a  moment 
he  saw  back  in  the  crowd,  looking  at  him,  with  a  sneer 
on  his  face,  the  evil  countenance  of  Seidel.  while  be- 
side him  sat  Lurello  Nagle,  coldly  malignant,  a  sar- 
donic grin  spread  over  his  huge  mouth. 

The  sight  was  like  an  electric  shock.  His  spirits 
rose  within  him.  He  felt  the  inspiration  of  a  mighty 
purpose  stir  within  his  breast.  He  had  an  exultant 
sense  of  power.  He  continued,  no  longer  listlessly,  no 
longer  depressed,  to  sketch  the  evils  under  which  the 
city  groaned.  He  delineated  with  masterly  hand  the  at- 
tempt to  capture  —  first,  the  congressional  seat,  then 
the  members  of  the  legislature,  all  of  whom  had  been 
selected  by  the  arch-manipulator,  as  was  well  known. 
He  showed  how,  by  the  cohesive  power  of  public  plun- 
der, all  of  the  offices  had  been  apportioned,  in  order  to 
continue  the  gang  now  in  power.  For  these  reasons  he 
said  the  Civic  Federation  has  felt  that  it  must  attack 
this  abuse  at  the  citadel,  it  must  place  itself  in  the  field, 
and  it  must  put  men  in  the  ofrlces  who  will  administer 
their  power  for  the  people  and  in  the  interest  of  justice 
and  good  government. 

He  was  greeted  with  a  whirlwind  of  applause.  And 
when  he  took  his  seat  his  eyes  swept  over  the  spot 
where  he  had  seen  Seidel  and  Nagle.     They  were  both 


254  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

gone.  Then  his  glance  rested  on  Margaret.  She  was 
sitting  in  the  gallery  and  she  smiled  upon  him — a  mes- 
sage that  sent  the  blood  tingling  through  his  veins. 

Herr  Muller  stood  up  and  said  that  it  was  manifest, 
after  that  speech  and  the  reception  that  Dr.  Cavallo 
had  received,  that  he  was  the  only  man  who  could  fill 
the  bill,  and  the  position  and  duties  which  he  had  so 
graphically  mapped  out.  He  asked  the  chairman  to 
put  the  question  whether  they  should  nominate  Dr. 
Cavallo  on  the  reform  ticket,  and  make  him  the  can- 
didate of  the  Civic  Federation. 

When  the  question  was  thus  put,  it  was  carried  with 
a  whirlwind  of  applause.  The  chairman  stated  that, 
in  order  to  place  his  name  properly  before  the  peo- 
ple, his  petition  would  have  to  be  signed  by  a  cer- 
tain per  centage  of  voters.  He  told  the  secretary  to 
prepare  a  list  and  it  would  be  placed  on  the  table  for 
signatures  after  the  meeting  had  adjourned. 

It  was  proposed  to  adjourn  and  sign  it  then  and 
there,  and  this  was  carried.  The  whole  audience 
swarmed  up  to  sign  the  petition  and  shake  hands  with 
the  doctor. 

In  this  manner  the  evening  wore  away  and  the  night 
was  far  advanced  when  the  tired  out  and  weary  doctor 
sought  his  bed.  His  arm  pained  him  and  his  head 
ached. 

Said  he,  "  I  half  wish  that  old  French  academician 
had  kept  his  moral  sentiments  to  himself.1' 


CHAPTER  XLIV, 


Dr.  Cavallo  at  once  began  to  prepare  for  the  battle. 
He  scanned  the  morning  papers.  The  one  that 
Seidel  controlled  was  almost  silent.  The  editor  had 
not,  apparently,  had  his  instructions,  he  only  briefly 
outlined  what  had  been  done  the  night  before,  and 
said,  that  if  the  Civic  Federation  put  up  a  candi- 
date, they  must  accept  the  fight  forced  upon  them. 

The  other  papers  said  little  or  nothing. 

The  Doctor  felt  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  He 
gathered  the  committee  of  the  Civic  Federation,  and, 
consulting  with  prominent  citizens,  all  interested 
in  the  cause  of  good  government,  he  perfected  the 
remainder  of  the  ticket,  putting  on  good  men,  for 
the  time  was  too  short  to  call  a  convention.  They 
made,  in  this  way,  an  acceptable  list  of  candidates,  and 
they  took  measures  to  have  it  filed  with  the  proper 
authorities,  so  that,  under  the  Australian  ballot  law,  it 
would  be  printed. 

He  knew  that  they  must  now  depend  upon  their 
ability  to  educate  the  public  to  a  sense  of  the  necessity 
for  action  and  of  cutting  loose  from  old  ties.  The 
American  citizen  hates  to  leave  his  old  party.  He  will 
talk  as  valorously  as  any  reformer,  but  when  the  time 
comes  to  vote,  he  is  apt  to  feel  like  Bob  Acres,  that 
his  courage  has  oozed  out  at  his  finger  ends,  and  that 


256  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

he  ought  to  support  the  regular  ticket.  So,  Dr. 
Cavallo  tried  to  impress  upon  his  fellow-reformers  the 
fact  that  they  must  not  only  address  themselves  to  the 
better  class  of  citizens,  but  they  must  show  them  that 
only  by  joining  their  forces  should  they  be  able  to 
conquer. 

Seidel  was  busy  in  his  own  peculiar  way.  He  told 
Radcliff,  when  that  gentleman  began  to  exhibit  signs  of 
weakening,  that  he  was  a  fool.  "  This  whole  movement 
is  confined  to  the  city  and  in  the  upper  wards.  It  has 
not  had  time  to  get  into  the  country,  and  it  will  not 
before  election.     I  tell  you  we  are  safe." 

So  Siedel  contented  himself  with  simply  appealing 
to  the  party  spirit,  showing,  day  after  day,  that  any  one 
who  joined  the  Civic  Federation  would  put  a  blot 
on  his  political  future  that  would  operate  against  his 
ever  getting  preferment  at  the  hands  of  the  party. 

This  had  an  enormous  influence  with  the  young  men, 
and  kept  many  from  joining  the  Federation.  Those 
who  did  had  the  stock  phrase  of  "Bolters"  thrown  at 
them. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 


Forseeing  that  if  he  were  elected,  he  must  make 
known  his  candidacy  to  the  whole  people,  Dr.  Cavallo 
mapped  out  a  campaign,  and  turning  over  his  practice 
to  a  friend,  he  began  his  work  throughout  the  district. 
As  soon  as  he  was  gone  the  Civic  Federation  lost  all 
interest  in  the  matter.  They  seemed  to  think  that  they 
had  performed  all  that  was  required  of  them  and  that 
the  burden  must  be  assumed  by  the  doctor. 

Seidel  was  quick  to  take  advantage  of  this  state  of 
affairs.  He  went  on  organizing  his  toughs  and  holding 
processions  and  parades,  in  which  the  doctor's  efforts 
were  ridiculed,  and  the  transparencies  loaded  him 
with  epithets  and  contempt. 

One  morning  he  had  his  organ  come  out  and  de- 
nounce the  whole  movement  by  which  Dr.  Cavallo  was 
nominated,  as  a  Jew  scheme,  declared  that  he  was  noth- 
ing but  a  Jew  adventurer,  and  that  this  movement  was 
an  effort  to  get  another  representative  of  the  race  into 
Congress,  so  that  they  could  call  for  the  issuance  of 
more  government  bonds,  and  thus  fasten  their  mone- 
tary clutches  on  the  nation.  It  was  an  article,  crafty, 
insinuating,  bitter,  and  malicious,  appealing  to  the  low- 
est instincts  of  the  mob,  and  raising  the  Jew-baiting 
spirit  to  the  highest  pitch. 

It  was  followed  that  evening  by  a  mass  meeting  of 

9 


258  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  friends  of  the  city  government.  The  meeting 
was  addressed  by  the  best  speakers  on  their  side, 
among  whom  was  Dr.  McHale.  He  did  not  scruple 
to  say  that  he  regarded  the  action  of  the  meeting  that 
nominated  Cavallo,  as  the  work  of  cranks  who  de- 
sired to  break  up  the  grand  party,  that  had,  on  so 
many  occasions,  saved  the  Union,  and  made  it  possible 
to  have  a  government  at  all.  As  for  asking  him  to 
vote  for  a  man  who  stood  forth  as  a  representative  of 
that  accursed  race,  he  could  not  and  would  not  do  it. 

The  pace,  thus  set  by  McHale,  Peterson  followed, 
the  flood  tides  of  abuse  were  fairly  lifted  and  the 
denunciation  was  bitter  and  deep..  One  speaker  thought 
that  they  ought  to  hang  every  man  who  voted  the 
Civic  Federation  ticket.  It  was  only  calculated  to 
stir  up  strife  and  wreck  the  party.  Another  suggested 
that  if  they  could  string  up  the  candidates  it  would  be 
all  the  better. 

The  crowd  cheered  lustily,  and  then  going  out  on 
the  street  they  made  a  bonfire  in  which  they  burned 
Cavallo  in  effigy.  Then  they  attacked  the  store  of  a 
poor  Jew,  who  dealt  in  second-hand  clothing,  and 
looted  it,  driving  him  and  his  family  out  into  the  street. 

The  police  stood  by  and  saw  this  outrage  and  did 
not  interfere. 

Grown  bolder  by  this  victory,  the  crowd  broke  all 
the  windows  in  Cavallo's  office  with  stones.  They 
made  a  rush  for  his  door,  but  not  succeeding  in  open- 
ing it,  they  battered  it  with  brick-bats. 

They  would  have  done  more  damage,  but  Timothy 
Dodd,  who  had  been  to  the  meeting,  came  up  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  howling  depredators  and  yelled,  "Here 
comes  Dr.  Cavallo,  run  for  your  loives!"  and  the  mob 
scattered  and  fled,  for  it  is  always  cowardly. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  259 

Gathering  force,  they  drifted  down  to  the  next  street 
and  broke  the  plate  glass  windows  of  Weiner  Bros. 
This  firm  had  always  been  afraid  of  being  called  Jews, 
and  they  were  the  first  to  suffer  when  the  outbreak 
came. 

The  mob  looted  everything  that  was  in  the  show 
windows,  and  decking  themselved  with  neckties, 
passed  on,  yelling  and  throwing  stones  through  the 
windows  of  every  one  whom  they  suspected  of  belong- 
ing to  the  Civic  Federation. 

The  Jew-baiting  spirit  was  aroused  in  all  its  frenzy, 
and  encouraged  by  the  apathy  of  the  police,  they 
turned  their  attention  to  anything  that  came  to  hand. 

They  broke  into  a  saloon  and  drank  up  all  the 
stock  of  liquor  that  the  fellow  had  on  hand.  This 
fired  them  to  madness.  They  raged  up  and  down,  and 
bombarded  Joseph  Levinsky's  building. 

He  had  put  a  caricature  of  Dr.  Cavallo  in  his  win- 
dow and  had  a  huge  stuffed  figure  representing  the 
Civic  Federation  as  an  old  woman  feeding  the  doctor 
with  a  spoon.  The  mob  surged  up  against  this,  and 
yelling  "Jew,  Jew,"  fusilladed  it  with  bricks,  smashing 
in  the  windows.  Then  they  stole  the  figure  of  the 
woman,  and  mounting  it  on  a  cart,  ran  it  up  and 
down  the  streets,  while  others,  drunk  with  fury,  went 
into  the  interior  of  the  store,  pulling  down  piles  of 
clothing  and  throwing  them  into  the  street.  The  Ham 
Head  gang  had  good  overcoats  that  season  for  the 
first  and  last  time  in  their  lives. 

They  finally  set  fire  to  the  stock.  This  brought  out 
the  fire  department,  and  the  Mayor,  thinking  that  mat- 
ters had  gone  too  far,  ordered  a  double  cordon  of 
police  around  the  place,  and  told  the  fire  department 
to  play  on  the  crowd. 


260  DOCTOR   CAVALLO 

This  dispersed  them  from  that  spot,  but  they  went 
off  and  began  to  loot  more  of  the  saloons.  The 
mob  of  thieves,  already  dangerously  large  in  the  city, 
took  advantage  of  this  and  began  to  plunder  private 
houses.  Not  content  with  this,  they  set  on  fire  two  or 
three  barns,  and  the  sound  of  the  fire  engines  at  work, 
the  quick  alarms  following  after  each  other,  aroused  the 
whole  population,  and  numbers  of  the  citizens  came 
down  town  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  They  found  the 
city  in  the  hands  of  a  drunken  mob,  who  were  beginning 
to  destroy  property  right  and  left.  All  order  was  lost, 
and  all  authority.  In  this  emergency,  the  colonel  of 
the  regiment  offered  his  assistance  to  the  Mayor,  and 
the  sheriff,  a  determined  man,  swore  in  all  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  military  company  who  were  within  reach, 
as  deputies.  These  protected  the  center  of  the  city, 
but  the  rioting  spread  to  the  outskirts,  and  the  result 
was  such  a  night  of  terror  as  the  city  had  never  seen. 

The  next  day,  the  city  papers  affected  to  make  light 
of  the  occurrences  as  the  work  of  boys,  but  the  metro- 
politan sheets  took  up  the  matter  and  gave  a  full 
account  of  the  outrages,  denouncing  the  Mayor  and  the 
authorities,  and  telling  them  they  ought  to  have  known 
that  the  outbreak  was  the  result  of  their  own  coward- 
ice; that  to  stir  up  the  angry  passions  of  the  mob  in 
any  one  direction  is  to  imperil  the  very  foundations 
of  society. 

Herr  Muller  was  the  only  city  editor  who  arose  to  a 
full  appreciation  of  the  situation.  He  denounced  the 
gathering  as  a  mob,  and  told  the  authorities  that  they 
had  aroused  a  spirit  that  would  recoil  on  themselves. 
That  when  they  permitted  defenceless  citizens  to  be  at- 
tacked they  were  a  disgrace  to  civilization.     He  called 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  26 1 

on  the  Civic  Federation  to  take  prompt  action  in  the 
matter. 

That  body  came  together  at  once.  The  disturbance 
of  the  night  before  opened  their  eyes.  They  made 
complaints  against  the  ring-leaders,  and  issuing  war- 
rants for  rioting,  had  them  lodged  in  jail.  The  offense 
was  so  flagrant  that  Seidel  did  not  dare  bail  them  out, 
and  he  had  to  wait  and  see  what  further  action  would 
be  taken. 

Dr.  Cavallo,  on  his  return  from  the  country,  called 
upon  Mrs.  Bernheim,  and  laying  the  condition  of  affairs 
before  that  lady,  begged  her  to  give  the  weight  of  her 
influence  to  the  cause  and  show  her  sympathy  for  good 
government. 

She  listened,  and  at  first  refused.  She  was  not  in 
politics.  He  told  her  that  the  disorderly  element  now 
had  full  control  and  that  unless  something  was  done  to 
hold  up  the  hands  of  the  better  element,  the  Civic 
Federation  would  abandon  the  fight  in  disgust. 

The  lady  hesitated. 

Then  she  said,  "If  you  think  it  is  necessary  I  will 
take  hold  of  the  work." 

She  was  as  good  as  her  word.  That  night  she  called 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Women's  Club  at  her 
house.  She  told  them  what  she  thought  they  ought  to 
do  in  this  great  emergency.  She  outlined  the  work 
and  asked  them  whether,  in  the  great  fight  that  was 
now  pending,  there  was  any  higher  duty  than  that  of 
insisting  upon  good  government? 

Before  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Women's 
Club  adjourned  that  night,  they  called  a  meeting 
of  the  entire  members  of  the  organization  at  their  hall 
the  next  day. 

When  they  met,  each  woman  was   appointed  to  a 


262  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

certain  duty.  The  entire  city  was  districted,  and  each 
member  was  held  responsible  for  one  section  consisting 
of  so  many  blocks.  It  was  her  duty  to  go  into  her  sec- 
tion, canvass  the  houses,  see  that  the  women  were 
visited,  and  the  right  arguments  put  in  their  mouths  ; 
to  find  out  how  their  brothers  and  husbands  voted,  and 
to  leave  them  such  printed  matter  as  was  requisite. 
Mrs.  Nagle  was,  with  grim  humor,  appointed  to  that 
part  of  the  city  that  embraced  the  Bernheim  flats. 
She  colored  to  the  eyes  when  this  section  was  assigned 
to  her,  for  she  felt  that  her  efforts  were  known,  and 
that  she  was  thus  shelved. 

The  next  morning  the  ladies  of  the  Women's  Club 
were  early  in  the  field,  and  the  citizens  began  to  see 
that  something  was  being  done.  The  members  put 
down  the  cry  of  the  Seidel  gang  by  telling  the  citizens 
that  Jew-baiting  will  end  in  Irish-baiting,  in  German- 
baiting,  in  class  distinctions.  The  colored  population 
were  reminded  that  it  was  not  very  long  before,  that 
Negro-baiting  was  a  very  popular  pursuit,  and  that 
when  the  cry  of  class  distinction  is  raised,  the  weaker 
always  suffers  most,  but  that  the  flame  soon  extends  to 
others,  until  it  ends  in  lawlessness. 

In  this  way  the  citizens'  movement  gained  an  enor- 
mous increase  in  popularity.  The  Executive  Commit- 
tee of  the  Women's  Club  sent  out  through  the  coun- 
try and  organized  Women's  Clubs  in  the  Congres- 
sional district.  The  more  the  disgraceful  occurrences 
of  the  night  of  rioting  became  known,  the  more  it  hurt 
Seidel's  cause.  Radcliff  was  waited  on  by  a  body  of 
the  prominent  citizens,  and  told  that  if  he  did  not  stop 
dragging  in  these  racial  questions  and  sneering  at  the 
doctor  because  he  was  a  Jew,  they  would  bring  up  his 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  263 

record  against  him.  This  was  a  threat  he  well  under- 
stood, for  during  the  war  he  had  been  a  Knight  of  the 
Golden  Circle,  and  he  was  very  sensitive  in  regard  to 
matters  during  that  period. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 


The  gang  that  controlled  the  city  administration 
continued  to  yell  "Jew!  Jew!"  until  this  cry  became 
the  signal  for  the  gathering  of  the  worst  classes,  and 
at  last,  in  self-defence,  the  police  were  obliged  to 
charge  the  mob  whenever  they  heard  it,  for  it  was 
almost  always  followed  by  outrages  against  persons  or 
property,  and,  once  started,  the  mob  never  asked  ques- 
tions as  to  whom  they  should  rob. 

Radcliff  found  that  he  was  losing  ground,  and  he 
had  another  quarrel  with  Seidel,  telling  him  that  he 
was  a  fool  to  start  this  cry  in  the  first  place. 

Dr.  Cavallo  stumped  the  district.  He  had  thrown 
himself  into  the  cause,  and  had  spoken  in  every  school 
house.  Everywhere  his  noble  and  commanding  figure, 
his  recital  of  the  causes  that  had  forced  him  to  take 
the  position,  his  eloquence,  his  knowledge  and  his 
great  professional  reputation  won  him  audiences,  and 
his  sympathetic  manner  and  the  readiness  with  which 
he  responded  to  all  questions,  explaining  what  the 
Civic  Federation  meant,  and  that  the  history  of  the 
world  has  shown  that  the  evils  of  city  politics  has 
sapped  the  life  of  all  republics,  won  him  the  hearts  of 
the  rural  voters.  The  farmers  gathered  to  his  side, 
and  at  every  meeting  it  was  declared,  Dr.  Cavallo  can 
make  more  votes  in  one  speech  than  others  can  in  ten 
years  of  argument. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  265 

He  always  avowed  that  he  was  a  Jew,  made  no 
evasion,  showed  them  that  the  true  Jew  stands  for  the 
highest  patriotism  and  the  purest  government,  and  that 
he  was  fighting  not  his  own  battle,  but  theirs. 

Seidel  read  the  accounts  in  the  papers  that  came  into 
his  party's  headquarters,  and  inwardly  cursed  him. 
Radcliff  was  hot  one  moment  and  cool  the  next.  He 
wanted  Seidel  to  pay  him  back  the  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  he  was  in  a  fever  lest  he  should  lose  it.  He 
smote  the  desk  in  his  office.  "  Talk  about  Jew  tricks," 
he  snarled,  "the  trick  by  which  that  fellow  got  me  to 
run,  and  then  to  endorse  his  note  for  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, is  worse  than  any  Jew  trick  that  I  ever  heard  of." 
And  he  felt  that  he  was  a  fool  to  have  been  duped. 

Nevertheless,  Seidel  was  by  no  means  discouraged. 
"The  opposition,"  he  said  to  his  followers,  "consists 
of  a  lot  of  old  women,  who  make  a  great  fuss,  cackling, 
but  they  can't  vote.  They  don't  amount  to  anything, 
and  the  whole  Civic  Federation  lives  in  one  centre 
ward.  They  can  carry  that,  and  then  they  are  done. 
Let  them  take  it,  we  will  sweep  the  city." 

As  the  time  for  the  election  drew  near,  he  sent  into 
the  district  all  the  money  that  he  could  raise,  and 
distributed  it  in  the  small  towns.  There  is  always  a 
purchasable  element  in  these  places,  and  with  these  he 
kept  in  touch.  He  knew  every  committeeman,  and  he 
toiled  night  and  day  getting  figures  and  putting  them 
down  in  parallel  columns.  He  announced  the  night 
before  to  his  associates,  "  We've  got  'em.  I  do  not 
believe  that  they  will  carry  a  ward  in  this  city,  and  if 
the  farmers  stand  firm,  we  shall  get  our  man  in.  I 
don't  believe  that  Cavallo  has  made  any  headway,  and 
as  for  the  Civic   Federation,  they  are  a  lot  of  old 


266  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

women.  I  can  figure  it  out  that  we  shall  win  by  a 
neck."  And  he  believed  it.  He  went  home  and  to 
bed,  leaving  his  followers  to  hold  a  grand  rally  in  the 
hall,  and  grand  rally  it  was.  They  had  all  the  speak- 
ers on  their  side,  and  among  them  was  Congressman 
Jagsby,  who  had  dropped  in  from  a  Chicago  district  to 
help  them  out.  Jagsby  was  what  is  known  in  political 
circles  as  a  "  Tarrier  ;"  that  is,  he  was  one  of  a  gang 
who  ran  the  party  for  what  there  was  in  it.  He  began 
with  a  volley  of  abuse,  directed  against  everything  and 
everybody  ;  he  abused  the  Civic  Federation,  who 
wanted  to  run  the  country  like  a  prayer-meeting.  He 
abused  Cavallo.  He  attempted  to  abuse  Mrs.  Bern- 
heim,  but  the  moment  he  alluded  to  her,  he  was  met  by 
such  a  storm  of  hisses  and  cries  of  "  Put  him  out," 
that  he  had  to  stop.  For  Pat  CTHara  was  in  the  crowd, 
and  he  got  up  on  a  chair.  "  That  lady,"  he  said  "  hez 
been  a  mother  to  me,  an'  ye're  a  dom  liar." 

This  produced  a  roar  of  laughter.  As  the  audience 
thought  of  Mrs.  Bernheim  in  the  full  flush  of  power 
and  beauty,  being  claimed  by  a  middle  aged,  bald 
headed  Irishman  as  his  mother,  they  roared  again. 
Then  they  insisted  upon  Pat's  getting  on  the  stage 
and  making  a  speech.  Then  they  carried  him  up, 
crowding  Congressman  Jagsby  into  a  corner,  and  yell- 
ing. Pat  waved  his  hands  aloft  and  tried  to  make 
them  hear,  but  his  voice  was  lost.  Every  hoodlum  in 
the  city  seemed  to  be  present,  and  while  they  were 
wildly  tumultous,  they  were  good  natured.  Pat  man- 
aged to  get  his  voice  heard.  They  mounted  him  on 
a  table  and  he  cleared  his  throat  and  began  : 

"Byes.  Byes.  Any  mon  that  brings  the  name  of  a 
respictible  lady  into  a  place  loike  this,  wid  the  intintion 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  267 

of  bemaning  her,  is  a  blackguayrd.  Now,  I  put  to  yez 
that  we  want  to  be  frindly  and  law  abidin',  and  I  mov 
ye,  sorr,"  addressing  the  chairman,  uthat  in  order  to 
show  that  there's  no  harrd  feelin'  on  this  occasion,  and 
I'm  shure  I  put  it  to  the  ignorance  of  the  distinguished 
guest  that  he  fell  into  this  mistake,  I  mov  ye,  sorr, 
that  Mr.  Radcliff  sets  'em  up." 

Then  there  was  a  yell,  and  everybody  inundated  the 
platform,  and  Mr.  Radcliff  was  born  on  the  shoulders 
of  his  enthusiastic  followers  down  to  the  nearest 
saloon,  where  the  party  kept  him  busy  in  paying  for 
the  beer.  He  only  said,  in  a  deep  tone  of  disgust, 
"Stop  'em  when  they  are  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  keg. 
I'll  pay  for  no  more." 

In  the  hall  the  distinguished  Congressman  began 
looking  for  his  hat. 

"You  made  a  mistake,"  remarked  the  chairman,  "  in 
attacking  Mrs.  Bernheim." 

41  Oh,  well,"  returned  the  chop  fallen  orator,  "you 
couldn't  have  kept  that  crowd  here  with  a  stump 
machine.  They  didn't  want  a  speech.  They  wanted 
free  beer.1' 

And  with  this  philosophic  declaration,  they  went 
away,  and  the  hall  was  locked. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 


The  nomination  of  Dr.  Cavallo  made  old  Abbott 
furious.  He  had  suffered  such  defeat  at  the  doctor's 
hands,  that  the  very  mention  of  the  name  "  Cavallo" 
aroused  all  the  hatred  in  his  nature,  and  when  the  nom- 
ination was  announced,  he  vindictively  opposed  the 
whole  movement.  He  had  influence  enough  with  Dr. 
McHale  to  force  that  divine  into  taking  a  more  out- 
spoken position  against  the  Civic  Federation  than  he 
otherwise  would  have  done. 

McHale  was  slow,  ponderous,  lethargetic  He  did 
not  like  to  exert  himself.  He  had  a  wealthy  congre- 
gation, although  it  was  small  in  number,  and  to  them 
he  preached  very  acceptable  sermons,  for  he  filled 
them  with  doctrinal  points,  and  regularly  threshed  over 
the  old  straw  of  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints,  of 
the  elect,  the  redemption  of  man,  and  the  problem  of 
original  sin.  Anything  that  was  new  was,  to  the 
Doctor,  an  object  to  be  avoided.  He  prided  himself 
on  the  fact  that  he  was  conservative,  and  that  he  took 
no  stock  in  evolution  and  Darwinism,  did  not  believe 
n  "fads,"  or  "isms,"  or  "  new  lights.1'  Not  until  a 
tenet  was  so  old  that  it  had  become  musty,  did  it  pos- 
sess attractions  for  Dr.  McHale. 

Abbott  was  visited  by  Seidel,  who  urged  him  to  take 
a  prominent  part   in  the  canvass,  and  he  committed 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  269 

the  old  man  into  signing  all  the  requests  for  meetings, 
and  all  the  protests  against  Cavallo  with  which  the 
papers  were  rilled.  When  Seidel  ventured  a  step  fur- 
ther, and  tried  to  get  a  contribution  of  money  for  the 
expenses  of  the  campaign,  the  avarice  of  Abbott  was 
at  once  aroused,  and  he  refused,  saying,  that  he  would 
work  in  his  own  way.  This  consisted  in  going  around 
to  such  people  as  owed  him  rent,  and  would  not  or 
could  not  pay,  and  offering  to  give  them  a  clear  receipt 
for  the  money,  if  they  would  work  against  Cavallo. 
He  was  active  in  this  matter,  and  his  unrelenting  hate 
induced  him  to  spend  the  most  of  his  time  in  button- 
holing people,  and  urging  them  to  take  a  stand  against 
the  Civic  Federation  and  the  Women's  Club. 

He  urged  McHale  to  preach  a  sermon  on  the  matter, 
and  the  Sunday  before  election,  McHale  announced 
that  he  would  give  his  views  on  the  crisis  that  was  now 
impending.  It  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  effort  to  do 
this.  He  had  always  taken  his  stand  against  sensation- 
alism in  the  pulpit,  not  because  he  cared  a  straw  about 
the  matter,  but  because,  to  preach  on  a  live  topic,  cost 
him  some  effort  to  write  out  his  ideas  in  a  new 
track,  while  the  old  subjects  took  no  thought  whatever. 

The  Sabbath  came  and  the  church  was  pretty  well 
packed.  McHale  affected  the  patriarchial  style.  His 
chokers  were  always  immaculate  in  their  whiteness. 
His  coat  fitted  without  any  creases.  His  mutton  chop 
whiskers  were  the  only  compromise  that  he  admitted 
with  the  world,  and  he  only  wore  these  because  he 
thought  they  gave  him  a  greater  air  of  dignity.  He 
announced  as  his  text  the  words  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Cor- 
inthians, 1st,  14th  -34th:  u  Let  your  women  keep  silence 
in  the  churches ,  for  it  is  not  permitted  unto  them  to  speak 


2^0  DOCTOR  CAVALLO 

but  they  are  commanded  to  be  under  obedience,  as  also  saith 
the  law!' 

He  said,  "Ordinarily,  I  do  not  believe  in  degrading 
the  sacred  desk  by  noticing  the  events  that  come  and 
go  over  our  heads.  These  are  of  the  earth,  earthy; 
while  the  pulpit  should  deal  with  heavenly  things  alone. 
But  there  are  times  when  personal  considerations  must 
give  way  to  the  public  good.  We  see  now  a  wave  of 
irreligious  thought  sweeping  over  this  community,  and 
it  becomes  every  man  to  do  his  utmost  to  stop  it.  We 
see  that  the  bulwarks  of  society  have  been  torn  down 
and  a  Jew  has  been  nominated  for  the  highest  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people  of  this  district.  As  if  to  make 
this  nomination  more  farcical  and  indecent,  woman 
have  been  induced  to  enter  the  lists  and  to  disgrace 
her  character  by  mingling  in  the  filthy  pool  of  politics. 
In  this  emergency  we  should  heed  the  words  of  the 
great  apostle :  ■  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the 
churches! 

"The  apostle  was  divinely  inspired,  and  his  words 
come  as  a  command  to  woman  of  the  present  day  no  less 
than  when  he  uttered  them.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  de- 
tract from  the  work  which  woman  should  undertake. 
The  Bible  is  filled  with  accounts  of  the  Dorcases,  and 
the  Marys  and  Marthas.  But  where  are  they  to  be 
found  ?  Invariably  at  the  feet  of  some  good  man, 
drinking  in  his  words,  receiving  instruction  from  his 
lips,  ministering  to  him.  This  is  the  function  of  wo- 
man. Not  the  equal  of  man,  not  side  by  side  with  him, 
but  his  helpmeet,  leaning  on  him,  depending  on  him, 
finding  in  him  her  guide  and  instructor  and  director. 
If  there  be  anything  in  the  New  Testament  that  appeals 
strongest  to  our  reason,  it  is  that  woman  in  the  time  of 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  2JI 

the  apostles  was  under  the  direction  of  man,  and  was 
set  to  do  those  things  in  the  churches  which  man  did 
not  wish  to  do  himself.  If  St.  Paul  had  had  the  "New 
Woman"  in  his  mind,  he  could  not  have  been  more 
emphatic  in  his  remarks  :  *  Let  your  women  keep  silence 
in  the  churches' 

u  Fancy  the  apostle  in  these  days  seeing  the  modern 
woman  riding  a  bicycle  ;  wearing  bloomers  ;  manag- 
ing elections ;  driving  tandem  ;  traveling  about  alone 
and  unaided  ;  making  stump  speeches  ;  haranguing  po- 
litical meetings  ;  running  for  office  ;  getting  on  boards 
organized  for  political  purposes  ;  wearing  tailor-made 
clothes  ;  aping  the  cravats,  the  collars,  the  cuffs,  the 
very  shoes  of  her  brothers,  and  being  in  all  respects  as 
like  a  man  as  she  can.  Is  it  not  high  time  that  the 
churches  speak  out  and  insist  that  the  words  of  St. 
Paul  are  obligatory,  and  come  as  a  Divine  command. 
'  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches! 

"The  true  function  of  woman  is  to  sanctify  home. 
There  she  is  the  acknowledged  queen.  There  she 
spends  her  time  in  those  household  duties,  which,  if 
neglected,  drive  men  away  to  seek  companionship  and 
solace  in  the  club  and  in  the  saloon.  No  man,  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  ever  yielded  to  the  demon  drink,  whose 
wife  made  home  pleasant.  No  woman  would  lose  the 
affections  of  her  spouse,  if  she  daily  knelt  in  prayer, 
asking  that  she  might  be  made  worthy  to  share  his  for- 
tunes, and  seeking  Divine  light  to  fit  her  for  the  high 
position  of  wifehood.  Men  must  have  the  restraining 
influences  of  home  to  keep  them  from  the  temptations 
that  assail  them,  and  how  can  they  have  this  when  the 
wife  and  mother  is  away  at  the  club,  or  is  absent  at  the 
political  meeting  ?     What  right  has  a  woman  to  under- 


2^2  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

take  these  grave  matters,  when,  probably  at  the  very 
time  she  does  it,  her  children  are  roaming  the  streets, 
or  are  crying  at  home  for  lack  of  that  care  and  consid- 
eration which  they  have  lost,  and  she  alone  can  give. 
'  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches' 

a  If  anywhere,  they  might  be  expected  to  be  allowed 
to  speak  in  the  churches.  The  active  management  of 
many  of  the  charities  were  committed  to  ihem.  The 
records  of  the  early  church  show  that  to  the  deacon- 
esses were  entrusted  many  things,  but  the  apostle, 
knowing  their  weaknesses,  would  not  even  allow  them 
to  speak  in  the  churches,  and  if  not  in  the  church,  cer- 
tainly he  would  not  sanction  their  speaking  anywhere 
else.  Our  Lord  and  Saviour,  knowing  the  weakness  of 
women,  and  seeing  that  the  curse  has  been  wrought 
upon  man  through  her  garrulity  and  evil  speaking  in 
the  Garden,  uttered  through  the  lips  of  his  servant, 
Paul,  this  sweeping  prohibition  against  their  being  al- 
lowed to  speak  anywhere.  *  Let  your  women  keep  silence 
in  the  churches? 

"  Listen  to  the  divine  command,  O  woman,  and  do  not 
seek  to  do  that  which  is  unseemly.  What  a  disgrace  it 
is  to  the  city  to  see  a  Woman's  Club,  regularly  organized, 
and  standing  up  like  a  reproach  and  menace  to  the 
home,  on  one  of  our  public  streets  ?  Here  the  mem- 
bers meet  and  cackle  ;  here  they  assemble,  and,  leaving 
their  domestic  duties  unattended,  discuss  what, —  why, 
"Politics,"  "  Government,"  "Political  Economy;" 
and  they  even  have  now,  in  this  very  city,  mapped  out 
the  town,  divided  it  into  districts,  and  have  appointed 
certain  women  to  canvass  certain  houses,  all  to  put  a 
Jew  in  office,  and  to  degrade  and  destroy  the  very  sanc- 
tuary of  our  institutions  ! 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  273 

14  If  woman  wishes  a  club,  let  her  find  it  in  the  church. 
If  she  desires  to  extend  her  field,  let  her  beek  it  in  mis- 
sionary work,  where  her  labors  will  be  supervised  by 
her  husband  and  by  the  worthy  elders  of  the  church, 
who  will  see  that  her  endeavors  are  directed  in  the 
proper  channel  and  her  zeal  towards  proper  objects. 
Here  is  an  institution  founded  by  Christ  himself,  and 
instituted  by  him,  wherein  woman  can  find  her  highest 
mission  and  her  most  enduring  monument.  Why  did 
our  Saviour  rebuke  Martha  ?  Because  Mary  was  sit- 
ting at  his  feet,  in  the  humble  attitude  of  attention, 
drinking  in  his  words.  Why  did  he  rebuke  the  apostles 
for  complaining  of  the  woman  with  the  box  of  oint- 
ment ?  Because  she  was  annointing  his  feet,  and  wiping 
them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head. 

"  Oh,  ■  woman  keep  silence  in  the  churches!  and  listen  to 
the  voice  of  Jesus  himself.  It  is  He  who  commands 
you  to  remain  humble,  and  to  cast  aside  this  false 
philosophy,  and  to  show  you  that  you  possess  modesty, 
which  you  shall  wear  as  a  crown,  and  humility,  which 
shall  become  to  you  as  a  diadem.  It  is  your  duty  to 
bear  your  burdens  with  meekness  and  patience,  suffer- 
ing all  things,  believing  all  things,  enduring  all  things.  A 
good  woman  is  to  her  husband  as  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness. And  what  is  it  to  be  a  good  woman  ?  It  is  to 
win  the  love  of  a  good  man,  to  share  his  troubles  and 
his  joys,  to  cool  his  fevered  brow  when  racked  with 
pain,  to  minister  unto  him.  Not  to  go  shrieking  around 
the  streets,  marching  in  political  processions;  not  in 
getting  up  resolutions  and  in  organizing  ward  commit- 
tees. I  am  a  minister  of  God,  and  I  must  proclaim  his 
truth.  I  see  among  you  some  who  curl  the  lip  in  dis- 
sent, and  who  are  ready  to  deny  my  proposition.     Let 


274  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

me  again  call  your  attention  to  the  words  of  St.  Paul  : 
4  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches! 

"Man  is  the  oak,  woman  is  the  vine.  Can  the  vine 
stand  upright  ?  No,  if  it  attempts  it,  it  is  soon  trailed 
in  the  dirt,  but  when  supported  by  the  oak,  how  it 
spreads  abroad.  How  it  adorns  the  landscape ;  how 
it  breathes  sweetness  and  balm,  and  affords  the  richest 
fruit  for  the  enjoyment  and  delectation  of  man. 

"  So  it  is  with  woman.  Left  to  herself,  she  makes 
shipwreck.  She  loses  all  the  sweet  and  womanly 
graces.  She  grovels  in  the  dust.  Every  new  fad  she 
takes  up.  She  adorns  herself  in  the  garments  of  men, 
and,  mounting  her  '  wheel,'  she  becomes  an  object  of 
gossip  and  unfavorable  comment.  She  is  a  thing  of 
laughter,  sneers  and  jeers.  But  united  to  a  Christian 
man,  she  is  the  light  of  home,  the  glory  of  the  house- 
hold, the  mainstay  of  the  church.  It  is  not  by  allow- 
ing her  to  talk  that  her  supreme  excellencies  are  shown, 
1  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches! 

"  Garrulity  has  ever  been  her  curse.  She  needs  the 
strong  and  repressive  hand  of  man  to  keep  her  in 
check.  Left  to  herself,  her  imagination  runs  riot.  Her 
affections,  unrestrained,  overflow  their  natural  channel, 
and  she  is  like  a  fertile  meadow,  which,  desolated  by 
the  unchecked  waters,  becomes  a  dismal  swamp.  But 
when  the  hand  of  man  restrains  these  forces  and  con- 
fines them  within  their  proper  limits,  they  irrigate 
without  flooding  the  land,  and  the  fertile  acres  blossom 
in  God's  glorious  sunshine,  and  bear  a  luxurious  harvest. 
1  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches! 

"Another  thing,  politics  is  too  foul  for  women 
to  meddle  with.  Our  needs  must  be  wrought  out 
by   the   strong   hand   of  man,  and  lovely  and  beauti- 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  2^5 

ful  women  are  too  pure  to  be  subjected  to  the  contamin- 
ating influences  of  our  system  of  government.  How 
would  any  of  my  hearers  like  to  have  their  wife,  or 
their  daughter,  or  sister,  attend  one  of  the  caucuses  in 
some  of  our  wards,  where  the  meeting  is  held  in  a 
saloon  ?  Where  the  voter  has  to  pick  his  way  through 
a  crowd  of  smoking  loafers  ;  where  the  ribald  jest  and 
the  obscene  joke  is  handed  around  from  one  to  another, 
and  where  the  conversation  is  so  liberally  punctured 
with  oaths,  as  to  be  unfit  even  to  be  repeated  any- 
where, much  less  in  a  place  and  on  an  occasion  like 
this.  I  speak  that  which  I  do  know,  when  I  say  that 
I  would  rather  consign  a  daughter  of  mine  to  an  open 
grave,  than  to  see  her  drag  the  glory  of  her  sweet 
womanhood  into  such  scenes  of  vice  and  filth  as  I  have 
witnessed,  when  I  have  been  forced  by  the  exigencies 
of  politics  to  visit,  when  I  desired  to  assist  in  the 
purification  of  some  foul  ulcer  in  the  body  politic. 
And  if  this  was  revolting  to  me,  what  would  it  be  to 
a  sweet  and  pure  woman,  from  whom  all  indelicate 
things  are  sedulously  excluded,  but  who  would  be  thus 
brought  face  to  face  with  them. 

"  No,  my  hearers,  when  the  apostle  uttered  the  words, 
'Let  your  women  keep  silence  hi  the  churches'1  he  was 
divinely  inspired.  He  saw  with  prophetic  vision  what 
danger  would  menace  the  Church  of  Christ  in  these  latter 
days,  and  he  determined  to  set  up,  as  a  warning,  the 
words  which  would  forever  serve  in  the  minds  of  the 
truly  pious  to  protect  the  sanctity  of  church  and  home. 

"  I  may  not  suit  everyone  in  this  vast  audience,  I  may 
seem  to  be  uttering  that  which  is  stale,  and  to  the  newer 
blood  here,  it  may  smack  of  old  fogyism,  but  when  I 
see  before  me  the  evils  that  are  impending,  when  I  see 


276  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

what  the  New  Woman  has  brought,  and  is  still  likely  to 
bring,  when  I  see  divorce  become  more  frequent,  the 
authority  of  the  husband  set  at  naught,  woman's  work 
neglected  and  turned  over  to  menials,  I  feel  that  as 
a  minister  of  Christ,  I  must  lift  up  my  voice  in  an 
effort  to  stem  the  tide  and  turn  back  this  wave  that  is 
sweeping  over  us.  '  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the 
churches' 

"  If  the  words  of  the  apostle  in  this  particular  are 
scorned,  what  credence  can  we  place  upon  the  rest  of 
his  utterance?  If  he  is  false  in  one  thing  he  must  be 
false  in  everything.  The  bars  thus  let  down,  we  are 
face  to  face  with  infidelity  in  its  worst  form.  It  there- 
fore becomes  us  to  see  that  no  jot  or  tittle  of  the  divine 
commands  is  treated  with  disrespect,  and  we  ought 
to  insist  that  the  command, '  Let  your  women  keep  silence 
in  the  churches?  shall  extend  to  all  classes  of  society 
and  to  all  ranks.  It  plainly  shows  that  in  the  apostle's 
mind,  woman  occupies  a  subordinate  position,  and  she 
should  never  be  allowed  to  leave  it.  Nor  is  this  the 
only  text  conferring  this  power  upon  man  ;  ■  Wives, 
obey  your  husbands  in  the  Lord \  for  this  is  right?  only  em- 
phasizes what  I  have  already  said.  Away  then  with 
women's  clubs.  Away  with  their  work  in  politics.  I 
hope  that  on  election  day,  every  one  of  this  congrega- 
tion will  show  at  the  polls  that  he  dissents  from  the 
heresy  of  the  'New  Woman,'  and  is  willing  to  go  on 
record  as  a  believer  in  the  word  of  God  and  a  follower 
of  the  apostolic  teaching." 

The  reverend  gentleman  took  his  seat,  and  the  con- 
gregation was  dismissed.  As  the  assembly  slowly 
passed  out  of  the  church  they  began  to  exchange  views, 
and  opinion  was  divided. 


DOCTOR   CAVALLO  2JJ 

Mr.  Lawrence  said  :  "  Dr.  McHale  has  laid  down  the 
law  pretty  strongly,  but  I  think  if  the  apostle  were  on 
earth  to-day,  he  would  modify  his  views.'" 

Bob,  to  whom  this  remark  was  addressed,  for  they 
were  walking  home,  laughed,  and  replied :  M  Father, 
look  out,  you  are  getting  liberal.  The  idea,"  he  added, 
"  is  this  :  woman,  and  the  relations  she  sustains  to 
to  society,  is  no  more  exempt  from  the  law  of  evolution 
than  is  anything  else.  The  Greeks  considered  that 
woman  was  only  worthy  of  occupying  a  subordinate 
position,  and  St.  Paul,  who  had  lived  a  good  deal  among 
the  Greeks,  imbibed  some  of  these  notions,  not  only  on 
this  point,  but  on  a  good  many  others.  The  church  to- 
day can't  follow  in  his  lead,  for  people  won't  have  it." 

"Still,  St.  Paul  was  undoubtedly  inspired,"  insisted 
Mr.  Lawrence. 

M  He  might  have  been  for  that  day  and  generation, 
but  not  for  this.  There  are  a  great  many  things  in  the 
Bible  that  were  true  then  that  are  not  now.  For  in- 
stance, how  foolish  it  would  be  now  to  take  precautions 
against  putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles.  It  was  a 
good  idea  then,  when  the  bottles  were  made  of  goat 
skins,  but  not  true  to-day  when  they  are  made  of  glass. 
I  think  that  if  St.  Paul  were  living  to-day,  Mrs.  Bern- 
heim  could  give  him  a  point  or  two  about  keeping 
silent,  that  would  wake  the  old  apostle  up  and  put  new 
ideas  into  his  head.  Look  how  she  is  running  this 
campaign  !  " 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 


Timothy  Dodd  was  profoundly  happy.  He  went 
into  politics,  and  at  once  organized  a  company  of  em-' 
bryo  statesmen,  and  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  time 
drilling  them.  When  the  doctor  went  on  his  campaign, 
Timothy  was  left  behind  to  keep  the  office.  He  began 
by  locking  it  up,  and  getting  his  legion  into  working 
order.  When  he  turned  out  at  night  with  his  squad, 
arrayed  in  waterproof  caps,  swinging  Chinese  lanterns 
and  carrying  canes,  the  summit  of  his  ambition  was 
reached.  He  was  chiefly  anxious  that  they  should  pre- 
sent a  military  appearance. 

"Thrid  up,  theyre,"  he  would  cry;  sthick  out  yer 
chists,  an'  luk  loike  min."  He  emphasized  this  by 
strutting  up  and  down  before  his  array,  and  exhorting 
them  to  remember  that  in  the  next  war  they  would  have 
a  chance  to  go  the  front. 

"  Luk  at  the  Ham  Heads,"  he  harangued  his  force, 
14  Luk  at  thim.  Ivery  wan  ov  thim  luks  loike  a  thramp 
from  Thrampville.  The  position  ov  an  intilligint 
American  citizen  is  to  hould  up  his  hid,  an'  expriss  that 
confidence  in  himself  that  his  rayson  shows  him  to  be 
gilty  ov." 

Timothy  did  not  confine  himself  to  his  own  party. 
He  went  everywhere,  and  among  his  other  acts,  was  to 
get  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  city,  and  attend  one  of 
the  ward  meetings  arranged  by  Seidel. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  279 

There  was  a  monstrous  blow-out  to  take  place  in  the 
Ninth  Ward,  so  he  went  down  early  to  have  a  hand 
in  it. 

The  headquarters  were  in  a  saloon.  The  rear  end 
had  been  cleared,  so  that  there  was  nothing  in  it 
but  a  bar  and  a  few  chairs,  leaving  a  clear  place  in 
front,  where  the  crowd  gathered.  The  regulars  drifted 
in  early,  and  began  to  clamor  for  a  treat.  Soon 
Seidel  came  in,  and  was  set  upon  for  drinks.  He 
graciously  shook  hands  all  around,  greeting  the  old 
rounders  as  "Tom"  and  u  Bill,"  and  affecting  that 
easy  air  of  jocular  familiarity  which  your  politician 
assumes,  being  particularly  effusive  just  before  election. 

It  was  evident  that  the  crowd  expected  something, 
but  it  was  not  until  Seidel  opened  out  with  a  whole  bar- 
rel of  beer,  ordering  it  set  up  on  the  counter  and  tapped, 
where  all  could  see  it,  that  the  enthusiasm  became 
wildly  hilarious.  Then  the  pent-up  noise  of  the  crowd 
broke  forth,  and  between  swarming  up  for  a  free  drink 
and  cheering  for  Seidel,  the  scene  soon  became  a  Babel 
of  riot,  a  wild  Bacchanalian  confusion.  The  atmosphere 
was  thick  and  heavy,  everyone  was  smoking  and  talk- 
ing and  drinking  and  cheering.  The  uproar  moment- 
arily increased,  while  the  saloon-keeper,  a  huge  type  of 
his  class,  dropped  his  usual  air  of  sullen  domination,  and 
put  on,  for  the  occasion  and  in  honor  of  his  patron,  the 
manners  of  a  condescending  and  pleasant  host. 

This  was  not  lost  sight  of  by  his  customers,  some  of 
whom  even  strove  to  be  familiar  with  him. 

" Whar's  yer  free  lunch,  Bill?"  said  one  of  them, 
affecting  terms  of  friendship, 

"  Free  lunch,  nothin'.  It's  free  beer  ye'll  have  to- 
night, I'm  thinkin'.      Ye  better  hurry  up   and  git  yer 


280  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

share,  for  when  this  keg's  gone  I  don't  know  who'll 
tap  the  next  un  !" 

"  Here's  the  silver  mine  fer  to-night,"  returned  a  red- 
nosed  loafer,  affectionately  patting  Seidel  on  the  back. 
«' And  say,  it  ain't  his  leg  we're  pullin'  neither.  We've 
got  old  Radcliff  by  the  jowl,  this  heat,  sure." 

"That  ain't  no  way  to  talk  about  the  head  of  the 
ticket.  The  more  beer  ye  git  into  ye,  the  more  disre- 
spectful ye  air,"  said  the  saloonkeeper,  with  a  scowl. 
"  It's  little  enough  that  ye  might  be  givin'  him  a  title. 
What's  the  matter  of  puttin'  a   '  Mister '  to  his  name?  " 

"  Huh,"  was  the  response.  "  I've  knowed  Radcliff 
ever  sence  he  carne  to  this  town.  Why,  he  an'  I've 
made  many  a  bar'l  together,  side  by  side.  D'y'e 
s'pose  that  I'm  goin'  to  '  Mister '  Bill  Radcliff?  Not 
on  yer  life  ef  I  knows  it.  I'll  vote  for  him  out  of  old 
acquaintance  sake,  but  I  don't  allow  to  git  on  my  knees 
to  him,  not  by  a  long  shot." 

The  conversation  drifted  into  a  string  of  reminis- 
cences. The  speaker  was  one  of  that  class  denomi- 
nated "old  citizens,"  chiefly  remarkable  for  remember- 
ing so  many  things  that  have  never  happened.  He 
gave  to  the  few  that  would  listen  to  him,  a  long  story 
of  how  he  and  Radcliff  had  come  to  the  city  together, 
and  had  worked  in  the  same  cooper  shop  and  had 
"churned"  all  one  winter.  Radcliff  had  saved  his 
money  and  started  a  grocery  store,  while  he  had  spent 
his,  and  was  now  drifting  around,  a  poor  wreck.  Every 
city  has  a  large  supply  of  the  "  old  citizens,"  and  they 
always  come  out  strong  on  occasions. 

Seidel  was  in  his  glory.  He  enjoyed  a  thing  of  this 
kind.  He  drank  with  ward  workers  here  and  there, 
and  found  out  the  fellows  whom  he  would  have  to  buy, 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  28 1 

the  men  who  worked,  and  the  men  who  simply  worked 
the  candidates.  There  is  a  large  class  of  what  are 
called  "heelers,"  who  are  always  on  hand  at  elections, 
pretending  to  work  for  this,  or  that,  candidate.  What 
they  really  do  is,  to  get  as  much  money  out  of  them 
as  possible,  and  give  no  service  for  it.  Seidel  was 
sifting  out  these  classes,  finding  out  whom  he  could  de- 
pend upon,  and  who  would  be  likely  to  take  his  money 
and  spend  it  for  whisky  without  rendering  any  service 
in  return.  The  beer  disappeared  before  he  had  finished 
this  part  of  his  labors,  and  as  it  was  hardly  time  to 
call  for  speaking,  he  had  the  saloon  keeper  tap  an- 
other keg,  and  still  another,  for  the  place  was  now 
packed  as  full  as  it  could  hold,  and  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  he  could  move  in  and  out.  He 
gathered  the  heads  of  the  wards,  the  men  who  manage 
the  politics  of  the  place,  into  a  corner,  and  began  to 
plan.  The  matter  having  been  arranged  to  his  liking, 
apparently,  he  saw  that  he  must  begin  with  his  verbal 
artillery. 

It  was  his  policy  to  commit  the  young  men  of  his  party 
to  his  side,  and  so  he  had  detailed  a  number  of  them 
to  make  speeches  at  this  meeting.  He  now  set  the 
pace  by  telling  his  friends  to  call  for  Hawkins — a 
young  man  who  had  just  received  his  license  to  prac- 
tice law.  He  was  new  at  the  business  of  making 
speeches,  so  he  declined,  but  the  crowd  would  not 
take  "  No,"  and  they  set  him  on  the  bar-counter  and 
told  him  to  go  on. 

The  air  was  stiffling,  the  room  was  clouded  with 
smoke,  and  the  crowd  was  half  inebriated.  He  cleared 
his  throat  with  a  mighty  effort,  and  began  : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Citizens  and  Gentlemen  of 


282  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  Ninth  ward.  It  gives  me  pleasure  this  evening  to 
come  among  you,  and  to  see  you  gentlemen,  and  to 
welcome  you  in  the  name  of  the  grand  old  party,  to 
which  we  all  belong." 

"That's  right,"  said  the  old  citizen  by  way  of  en- 
couragement.    "  Go  ahead.1' 

"I  feel  on  this  occasion,  Mr.  Chairman,  like  one  who 
knows  that  he  is  here  representing  this  grand  old  party, 
to  which  we  all  belong,  fellow  citizens  and  gentlemen." 

"Hoorray,"  cheered  a  bystander,  "go  it,  giv't  'tern." 

"We  have  come  here  to  honor,  and  to  stand  by,  that 
grand  old  party,  to  which  we  all  belong,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, which  we  may  say  belongs  to  us,  Mr.  Chairman. 
We  desire  to  save  this  country,  Mr.  Chairman,  and 
how  can  it  be  done,  Mr.  Chairman,  fellow  citizens  and 
gentlemen  ?  Is  it  to  be  done,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  any 
other  way,  Mr.  Chairman,  fellow  citizens  and  gentle- 
men, than  by  following  the  leadership,  and  putting  in 
office  men  who  belong  to  that  grand  old  party,  to 
which,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  both  belong,  Mr.  Chairman, 
fellow  citizens  and  gentlemen?  M 

"Hooray"  yelled  the  ward  heeler.  "Set  'em  up, 
Hawkins,  set  'em  up.  I'm  that  dhry,  me  troat  is 
cracked." 

A  rush  was  made  on  the  bar,  and  in  the  crowd 
some  one  seized  the  orator  by  both  legs  and  bore 
him  over  the  heads  of  his  auditors,  until  he  was 
deposited,  his  clothes  torn  and  soiled,  and  his  hat 
smashed,  at  the  feet  of  Seidel. 

He  looked  that  gentleman  in  the  face  and  gasped, 
"And  this  is  politics,  is  it?" 

"This  is  Ninth  ward  politics,"  returned  Seidel,  good 
naturedly. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  283 

"  Say,1'  asked  the  other,  '•  I  made  a  fool  of  'myself, 
did'nt  I?" 

"Oh,  no,"  Seidel  replied,  "you  did  first  rate.  You've 
got  to  get  used  to  it.     Get  Mudd  up  and  hear  him.'" 

Mudd  was  also  a  young  attorney,  who  had  quite  a 
reputation  for  windy  eloquence.  He  was  summarily 
seized  and  deposited  on  the  counter,  while  the  crowd 
yelled  with  delight.  Mudd  was  an  old  hand  at  these 
affairs,  and  was'nt  abashed.  He  put  both  hands  in  his 
pockets,  and  standing  up  straight,  put  on  an  air  of 
consequential  importance.  "Saay,  you  all  know  me, 
and  you  expect  that  I'm  going  to  make  a  speech.  Now, 
saay,  you  can't  give  me  no  razzle  dazzle  like  ye  did 
Hawkins.  No?  Well,  I  don't  think  you  will!  Now, 
you  don't  want  no  speech  here  to-night.  (Cries  of  "yes 
we  do.1')  I  say  No!  What  you  want  is  free  beer,  and 
as  long  as  Radcliff's  treat  holds  out,  there  won't  be  no 
chance  for  eloquence,  you  tumble  do  ye?"  At  this, 
the  crowd  yelled  its  approval. 

"  Now,  what  we  want  you  fellows  to  do  down  in  the 
Ninth,  is  to  come  up  and  vote  next  Tuesday.  You 
remember  the  old  adage,  'Vote  early  'n  ofn.'  What 
counts  in  this  world  is  votes.  Saay,  d'y  want  the 
wimmin  to  run  this  city  and  district?  D'ye  want  that, 
hey?  (Yells  of  dissent.)  Well,  if  ye  don't  want  that, 
get  up  and  hustle.  It's  all  right  to  drink  a  little  beer 
now  and  then.  I  drink  it  myself;  but  you  must  go  and 
dig.  D'ye  understand  that?  D-I-G;  with  a  big  bear- 
ing down  hard  on  the  '  G'!  This  meetin'  aint  for  fun. 
It's  for  work.  Every  man  of  ye  ought  to  go  out  and 
be  a  missionary.  Not  them  long-faced,  sanctimonious 
missionaries,  that  preach  to  the  heathen,  but  a  missionary 
that  goes  out  and  takes  his  naybur  by  the  ear  and  gits 


284  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

him  to  vote  for  the  hull  ticket.  That's  the  kind  of 
rooster  I  am;  and  I  say  to  you  right  hear  and  now, 
that  ef  you  don't  do  this,  you  can  expect  that  this  here 
town  '11  be  run  by  the  wimmin."  (Groans  of  dissent 
from  his  hearers.)  "That's  what,  and  you'll  get  it  too. 
When  the  wimmin  get  hold — these  old  maids  with  long 
faces  and  hair  the  color  of  hay,  these  freedom  shriek- 
ers  and  Bible  bangers — you'll  see  what  you'll  git!  No 
more  beer,  neither  Sundays  nor  week  days.  Every 
man  '11  have  to  come  home  of  a  Saturday  night  and 
give  his  old  woman  his  wages  and  sneak  around  and 
beg  for  enough  to  git  a  plug  of  tobacco  with.  How 
d'ye  like  that?"  (Howls  and  yells  of  derision,)  "Ah 
ha!  oh  ho!!  Ye  don't  like  it?  Well  then,  get  out  and 
work  for  the  ticket.  Don't  let  no  man  in  this  ward 
vote  for  Dr.  Cavallo  or  any  of  that  gang,  Cheese  'em. 
Drive  'em  into  the  ground  hard  and  break  'em  off. 
That's  the  way  to  use  'em  up.  We  don't  want  no  such 
reform  movement  in  our  ward.  Tell  'em  that.  Now 
I'm  going  to  stop.  (Cries  of  "go  on,"  "go  ahead.") 
"That's  all  right,  but  I'm  going  to  stop  with  one  more 
remark,  and  that  is,  that  Mr.  Seidel  has  requested  me 
to  make  a  very  important  communication,  and  that  is, 
that  he  has  ordered  Bill  here,  to  tap  a  fresh  keg  of 
beer.  Stand  back,  you  fellows  in  front,  and  give  the 
hind  fellows  a  chance!" 

The  roar  that  went  up  when  Mudd  had  finished, 
attested  to  the  popularity  of  the  speaker  and  showed 
how  well  he  knew  the  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  voters 
of  the  Ninth  ward. 

Seidel  warmly  congratulated  him.  "That  was  a 
great  speech,  Mudd.  You  hit  the  nail  on  the  head 
every  time,  and   clinched  it.     That's  the  way  to  do  it. 


DOCTOR    CWALI.O  285 

That  s  the  kind  of  speech  to  make  votes.  You  have 
got  to  appeal  to  their  interests  after  all." 

"I  havn't  practiced  law  in 'the  criminal  courts  here 
for  nothing,"  replied  Mudd.  "If  I  can't  get  a  crowd 
in  the  old  Ninth  to  just  get  on  its  bind  legs  and  howl, 
I'm  no  oyster,"  was  the  modest  response. 

The  beer  having  been  consumed,  the  audience  was 
in  high  good  humor,  and  they  began  to  call  for  some- 
thing more.  They  found  Bezeke  in  a  corner,  quietly 
drinking,  and  they  seized  upon  him  and  pulled  him 
out.  He  could  not  get  to  the  bar,  for  a  crowd  of 
struggling  patriots  pre-empted  that,  for  they  had  dis- 
covered that  those  nearest  it  had  the  first  chance  at 
the  beer,  while  those  behind,  got  little  or  none  of  it. 
So  those  whose  thirst  was  stronger  than  their  love  for 
eloquence,  formed  a  solid  line  in  front  and  would  not 
give  way.  Seeing  this  disposition,  Seidel  took  a  barrel 
and  planting  it  in  a  corner,  put  Bezeke  on  it  and  told 
him  to  go  ahead.  He  was  a  curious  little  man,  so 
short  that  he  seemed  to  be  in  perpetual  danger  of  fall- 
ing into  his  own  boots,  of  which,  he  always  sported  a 
huge  pair,  sticking  his  pants  into  them.  His  tremend- 
ous head,  his  short  figure  and  his  matted  hair  gave  an 
impression  of  ferocity  to  him  which  his  words  did 
not  belie.  He  looked  about  on  the  crowd,  packed  in 
the  little  room,  and  with  the  words  "  Mine  frents," 
waited  for  the  noise  to  still  so  that  he  could  proceed. 

"I  am  a  shoomacher.  I  am  a  workin'  mann  who 
labors  all  tay  unt  efrey  tay  to  arn  his  taily  pred.  I 
goomes  mit  dis  guntry,  and  I  finds,  vat  ?  De  sthones 
mad  of  gelt  ?  Nein,  mine  frents.  Dey  is  shust  the 
same  as  in  the  olt  guntry.  Hart  vork  unt  poor  pay, 
mine  frents.     Who  is  to  plame,  mine  frents  ?     Who  is 


286  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

to  plame  ?  Who  has  the  fine  glose  ?  Who  has  the 
carrriages,  unt  the  dimonts,  unt  the  vine  viskys  ?  Hey 
mine  frents  !  Who  ?  I  tells  you,  mine  frents.  It  vas 
dem  Choos.  It  vas  dem  Choos.  Vat  you  going  to  do, 
mine  frents,  mit  dem  Choos  ?  Vat  you  going  to  do  ? 
Vill  you  let  dem  run  ofer  us  ?  Hey  ?  Here  is  a  nom- 
inashun  fear  der  Gongress.  Dit  they  gif  it  to  you,  mine 
frents,  or  to  me,  who  knows  somedings,  too  ?  No,  mine 
frents,  dey  gif  it  to  a  Choo." 

The  crowd  roared  its  approval,  and  cheered  Bezeke 
so  loudly  that  be  found  it  difficult  to  proceed,  but  he 
went  on  : 

"  Now,  ve  vant  to  stop  all  dis.  Ve  vant  to  chine 
hants  unt  say  ve  vill  not  buy  no  more  goots  of  dem 
Choos,  nor  any  glotin',  nor  any  poots  or  shoos,  ve  vill 
pass  dem  all  puy,  unt  puy  of  goot  mens  who  makes 
shoos  sheaper  as  dem,  unt  ve  vill  go  to  der  Gongress 
our  own  zelfus  and  mit  out  any  helup  from  dem,  mine 
frents.  Ve  shoud  put  down  dese  aristokraten,  unt  dese 
mens  mit  money.  I  dell  you,  mine  frents,  any  mann  vot 
gots  a  glean  shirt  is  an  obyect  of  zusbishun,  mine  frents. 
Ven  a  mann  pegins  to  plack  his  poots,  he  pegins  to  be 
a  schundrel ;  ven  he  puts  on  agolar,  he  pegins  to  sthudy 
tievin' ;  ven  he  puts  a  bocket  handkersheif  in  his  boc- 
kets,  he  sets  oud  for  der  roat  to  willainy." 

This  was  too  much  and  the  saloon  keeper  shook  his 
fist  at  him  over  the  end  of  the  bar.  ilShut  up,  ye  ould 
crank.  Whin  ye  git  started  on  that,  ye  ould  wind  mill, 
ye  are  worse'n  a  Texas  cyclone." 

11  Ah  ha  !  "  snapped  Bezeke  back.  ••  Mine  frents,  he 
vas  not  to  dalk  in  dot  avay  ven  he  was  boor,  but  now  he 
makes  money,  unt  he  vos  so  diffrend.  Ah,  ha,  he  likes 
not  Socialismus,  ven  he  pegins  to  git  drade." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  287 

At  this,  one  of  the  saloon-keeper's  friends,  who  had 
been  working  his  way  back  to  Bezeke,  and  evidently 
acted  under  instructions,  hit  the  barrel  a  kick,  and  the 
great  Socialist  orator  disappeared  in  a  cloud  of  dust, 
staves  and  hoops,  and  with  the  collapsed  barrel,  his 
oratory  came  to  an  end. 

Seidel  was  deep  in  consultation  with  the  ward 
workers.  One  of  them  summed  up  the  situation  as 
follows :  "  If  it  wan't  for  this  Australian  ballot  law  we 
could  give  ye  most  any  majority  here  you  would  want 
in  reason.  But  this  makin'  a  dead  line^  beyond  which 
a  worker  can't  pass,  has  cut  down  the  enthusiasm  a 
good  deal.  You  could,  formerly,  take  a  man  up  and 
vote  him,  and  see  that  he  voted  right,  but  now  he  can 
fool  ye  all  he  has  a  mind  to,  and  all  you  can  do  is  to 
buy  him  at  last,  and  then,  like  as  not,  he'll  lie  out  of  it. 
The  good  old  times  has  passed,"  and  he  heaved  a  sigh 
as  he  thought  of  how  they  used  to  manipulate  the  bal- 
lots, the  voters  and  the  returns. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 


The  crowd  steadily  increased,  until  there  was  an 
overflow  meeting  outside.  It  was  now  too  large  to 
feed  beer  to  with  any  sort  of  regard  to  economy,  so 
Seidel  rigged  up  an  extempore  platform  outside, 
adorned  it  with  a  chair,  a  table  and  a  pitcher,  supposed 
to  contain  water,  and  set  his  orators  in  motion  out 
there. 

He  picked  up  a  venerable-looking  old  chap  to  pre- 
side, and  he  called  upon  him  to  make  a  speech.  The 
old  man  was  known  as  one  of  the  wheel-horses  of  the 
party.  He  boasted  that  he  had  belonged  to  it  for  fifty 
years,  and  he  could  be  depended  upon  to  work  this  in 
his  speeches.  So,  when  he  was  introduced  as  the  chair- 
man, he  set  off  at  his  usual  rate. 

"  Fellow  Citizens :  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  that 
you  have  done  me  this  evening  in  calling  upon  me  to 
preside  over  this  large  and  intelligent  meeting.  I 
have,  gentlemen,  been  a  member  of  this  grand  old 
party  for  fifty-three  years — fifty-three  years,  gentle- 
men, fifty-three  years,  and  if  I  live  until  next  January, 
it  will  be  fifty-four,  gentlemen,  fifty-four  years,  and  in 
this  time  I  have  never  scratched  a  ticket  or  refused  to 
vote.  My  motto  for  fifty-three  years  has  been,  '  My 
party,  right  or  wrong,'  and  by  the  Eternal,  gentlemen, 
I  propose  to  stand  by  that  motto.     If  it  is  good  enough 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  289 

to  stand  by  for  fifty-three  years,  it  is  good  enough  to 
live  by,  and,  if  my  life  is  spared,  I  will'give  it  a  trial  for 
fifty-three  years  longer.  Gentlemen,  what  is  your 
pleasure  ?"  He  took  his  seat  in  the  chair,  and  looked 
about  for  a  speaker. 

The  crowd  called  for  Bill  Geass,  the  saloonkeeper, 
and,  after  howling  and  yelling  until  they  were  hoarse, 
Bill  came  out,  and  wiping  his  hands  on  the  towel  that 
served  him  for  an  apron,  he  nodded  to  his  thirsty  com- 
patriots. 

"I  know  what  ye'v  got  me  here  fer,"  he  began,  cock- 
ing his  head  on  one  side,  "it's  in  the  hope  that  I'll  say 
that  I'm  going  to  set 'em  up.  Well,  now,  in  all  fairness 
to  you  I  ain't  going  to  do  no  such  thing.  See?  In  elec- 
tion time  it's  the  candidates'  turn  to  attend  to  that  little 
duty,  and  it's  my  biz'  to  have  'em  do  it.  Beer  is  what 
makes  elections  win  in  the  Ninth  ward,  and  it's  beer 
that  the  people  want.  I  did  half  expect  to  see  Mr. 
Radcliff  here  to-night,  himself.  It  ain't  that  I  ain't 
satisfied  with  Mr.  Seidel.  He's  a  gentleman  as  any- 
body js  proud  to  take  by  the  hand,  and  it's  all  right 
for  him  to  come  down  here,  but  still  it  ain't  treatin' 
the  voters  exactly  right  for  Radcliff  to  stay  back  and 
send  another  feller  in  his  place.  I  ain't  no  kicker,  but 
I  feel  just  as  big  an  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
ward  as  anybody.  When  the  votes  is  counted  out  the 
fust  thing  they  want  to  know  is,  how  did  the  Ninth 
ward  go?  But  when  there's  any  favor  to  give  out, 
they  fergit  all  about  us.  Now,  I  want  every  man  that's 
on  the  ticket  to  come  down  here  and  put  hisself  on  a 
level  with  us  and  let  us  see  him.  We  ain't  proud.  I 
don't  know  as  I'd  be  ashamed  to  shake  a  man  by  the 
hand  just  because  he's  running  for  Congress.     He  may 

10 


29O  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

be  a  tolerably  honest  man  afore  he's  elected,  although 
they  do  say  that  they  git  mighty  crooked  afterwards. 
All  I  want  is  to  see  that  they  ain't  stuck  up.  I  want 
'em  to  say  '  Bill  Geass,'  after  election,  with  the  same 
friendly  feelin1  that  they  do  when  they  are  countin'  the 
votes.  This  is  a  kind  of  love  feast,  and  I  am  in  the 
humor  to  give  the  whole  party  a  piece  of  my  mind, 
and  1  am  just  doing  it  to  relieve  myself.  There  will 
be  more  beer  after  the  speakin',  and  some  of  the  boys 
is  goin'  to  let  off  fireworks  in  the  back  lot.  I  ain't 
sayin'  nothin'  about  a  free  lunch  about  midnight,  be- 
cause I  don't  want  to  interfere  with  the  speakin.'  I'm 
a  plain  man  of  business  who  is  stuck  on  his  ward,  and 
who'll  go  as  far  towards  maintainin'  the  honor  of  it  as 
any  other  snoozer  that  weighs  less'n  two  hundred  an' 
fifty  pounds." 

The  yells  of  approval  that  went  up  while  his  adddress 
was  delivered  were  tremendous,  but  when  Bill  deli- 
cately alluded  to  the  free  lunch  and  to  the  fireworks, 
all  for  the  honor  of  the  ward,  the  delight  of  his  audi- 
tors knew  no  bounds.  He,  himself,  felt  that  it  was  a 
master  stroke,  and  when  Seidel  congratulated  him  and 
told  him  :  "Bill,  this  makes  you  the  next  alderman," 
his  swelling  breast  could  hardly  contain  itself,  and  he 
walked  about  with  the  fire  of  ambition  in  his  eye,  an 
example  for  gods  and  men. 

Seeing  this,  Sam  Larkin  edged  his  way  in  front  and 
so  managed  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  crowd,  that  they 
began  yelling  for  him.  Sam  was  the  present  alderman, 
and  as  he  was  soon  to  be  up  for  re-election,  he  did  not 
propose  to  see  Bill  Geass  take  the  apple  from 
him  without  a  vigorous  protest.  He  had  discerned 
Bill's  ambition  before  this,  and  now  he  was  certain  of 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO         ■  2^1 

it.  When,  therefore,  he  induced  his  friends  to  call  him 
out,  he  mounted  the  table  and  looked  down  upon  the 
audience  with  a  paternal  smile.  "  Boys,  how  air  ye  ? 
I  don't  need  no  introduction  to  the  voters  of  the  Ninth 
ward.  They  know  me  and  I  know  them.  Many's  the 
tough  fight  we've  had  around  the  polls,  but  this  I  can 
say,  that  as  long  as  Sam  Larkin  was  on  deck  the  old 
ward  never  failed  to  show  up  it's  usual  majority.  The 
boys  could  rely  upon  the  Ninth,  and  the  Ninth  has  al- 
ways felt  that  it  could  rely  on  Sam  Larkin.  I  ain't 
given  to  boastin'  much,  but  I  reckin  I've  got  more 
curbin'  and  more  improvements  for  this  ward,  than  ary 
three  wards  of  the  city.  I  said  to  the  other  fellows  in 
the  upper  wards,  'You  do  the  payin'  and  I'll  furnish 
the  work,'  and  if  this  here  ward  hain't  been  sewered 
and  curbed  from  one  end  to  the  other,  its  because 
these  here  special  assessments  came  in  and  knocked 
my  scheme  endways.  I  don't  mind  tellin' you  that  IVe 
been  for  anything  that  'ud  bring  money  into  the  ward, 
and  agin  anything  that  'ud  take  it  out.  My  motto 
has  always  been,  'The  Ninth  ward  first,  last  and  all  the 
time.'  I  tell  ye  boys,  a  man's  got  to  be  in  the  Council 
some  little  time  before  he  gets  the  hang  of  things,  but 
it  ain't  long  before  he  learns  enough  to  be  able  to  git 
onto  their  tricks.  You  bet  Sam  Larkin  has  been  there 
and  been  there  a  long  time." 

u  How  is  it  about  the  gas  business  ?  v  inquired  a  by- 
stander. 

This  meant  war,  and  Sam  knew  where  the  shot  told. 
He  had  been  in  the  Council  as  the  paid  representative 
of  the  gas  company,  and  was  so  recognized.  This  was 
the  weak  spot  in  his  armor,  and  he  knew  that  Bill 
Geass  had  put  the  questioner  up  to  ask  it,  with  the  in 


292  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

tention  of  flooring  him.  He  tried  to  gain  time.  "What 
is  that  ?"  said  he.     "  I  didn't  understand." 

The  questioner  came  nearer.  "  How  much  did  the 
Gas  Company  pay  ye,  Sam,  for  gettin'  thru'  that  last 
conthract  ?     Answer  me  that  ?" 

Sam  bristled  with  indignation.  "  Any  man  that  says 
that  I  tuk  money  for  that  contract,  says  wat  ain't  troo. 
The  Gas  Company  is  our  own  citizens,  and  they  are 
entitled  to  any  contract  before  the  outsiders  is  let  in. 
My  principles  is,  4  Home  fust  agin  the  world.'  Now, 
fellow-citizens,  I  won't  detain  you,  but  will  give  way  to 
some  other  gentleman,  who  will  discuss  the  issues  of 
the  day." 

The  crowd  began  to  get  uneasy.  They  broke  up 
into  little  groups,  and  indulged  in  discussion  and  in  an 
occasional  fight.  They  were  getting  tired  of  oratory, 
and  wanted  some  other  diversion.  Two  or  three 
speakers  followed,  and  one  old-timer  began  back  in  the 
days  of  Jefferson,  and  sketched  the  rise  of  parties  and 
the  development  of  the  constitution.  He  speedily 
broke  up  interest  in  the  meeting,  and  the  crowd  only 
hung  around  the  saloon  waiting  for  the  free  lunch  with 
greater  longing.  The  old  man  droned  on,  and  the 
street  was  filled  with  laughter  and  noise,  until  some  of 
the  boys  espied  Timothy  Dodd,  and  hauling  him  out  of 
the  corner  of  the  saloon,  where  he  had  been  a  quiet 
spectator  all  the  evening,  yelled  a  "  Spy,"  and  hustled 
him  out  of  the  door.  Timothy  watched  his  chance,  and 
as  the  noise  had  compelled  the  speaker  to  stop, 
Timothy  mounted  the  table.  The  sight  of  his  attitude 
—  for  he  imitated  the  action  of  Dr.  Cavallo  as  he  had 
seen  him  in  the  hall  commanding  silence  —  caused  the 
crowd  to  gather  around  to  listen  to  him. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  293 

"Spoi  !  a  spoi  !  O'id  like  to  see  the  b'y  that  wud 
call  me  thot  face  to  face  out  in  a  tin-acre  lot.  I'm  a 
fray  American  citizen,  attindin'  to  me  joost  roights.  an* 
I  have  as  much  roight  to  cum  down  to  the  Ninth  Ward 
to  attind  a  public  maytin'  as  any  other  mon.  O'id  hev 
yez  to  know  that  O'im  the  son  of  Peter  Dodd,  an'  Oi 
wus  born  on  the  Flats,  an'  O'im,  by  nature  and  eddi- 
cashun,  a  bether  Ninth  Warder  than  the  most  of  yez. 
An1  whin  Oi  cum  down  to  pay  a  neighborly  and  frindly 
visit  it  is  to  be  set  on  an'  called  a  spoi.  It's  little 
cridit  yez  do  the  warrd,  the  crowd  of  yez.  O'ive 
patiently  waited  durin'  the  whole  discooshin1  for  some 
mon  to  discuss  the  issues.  O'ive  heard  iverything  else, 
but  not  a  quistion  as  to  the  position  of  the  parties. 

"Ye've  had  free  beer  and  loonch,  and  matters  of 
that  kind,  and  ward  politics,  but  there's  not  wan  among 
yez  that  has  got  into  the  sivinth  hiven  of  politics,  as 
ye  may  say,"  he  continued:  "  The  thary  of  politics 
is  in  gettin'  min  into  offis,  an'  thin  ye  come  down  to  the 
dischosshn  of  min.  There's  min  and  there's  other  min, 
an'  ye  hav  to,  in  a  manner,  dissect  the  candidates. 
Now  there's  Misther  Radcliff.  There  ain't  a  better 
joodge  of  groceries  in  the  whole  city.  But  does  he 
understhand  the  saycret  ways  of  thewurrld  of  politics? 
Can  he,  in  a  manner,  as  you  might  say,  diagnose  the 
springs  of  office  ?  Here's  where  ye  hev  to  think. 
Society  is  loike  a  man  himself.  Sometimes,  to  use  a 
midical  terrum,  ye  hev  to  give  a  profylactick,  and 
sometimes  ye  hev  to  administer  an  emetic,  joost.  Now 
the  question  is,  hev  ye  got  a  mon  who  ondersthands  the 
difference  between  the  two  ?  When  the  political  body 
is  sick,  ye  don't  want  quacks,  d'ye  moind  that.  Ye 
hev  to  put  the  patient  on  a  dose  of  diet,  and  he  is  a 
smart  mon  who  can  tell  at  wonce,  whether   it's   pills 


294  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

that  he  needs,  or  only  a  bath.  Don't  make  no  mistak. 
Oim  not  sayin'  that  Dochter  Cavallo  is  the  mon,"  he 
said  cautiously.  "  Oi  put  it  to  yez,  however,  to  weigh 
the  matter  well.  Yer  all  agreed  that  the  body  politics 
is  nading  a  dose  of  somethin'.  Jist  what,  is  the  ques- 
tion. They're  not  loikely  to  settle  it  to-night,  but  take 
a  tumble  now  to  yourselves,  an'  don't  be  goin'  off  half 
cock,  an'  takin'  powders,  whin  phat  ye  need  is  qui- 
nine.1' 

"Begad,  he's  roight,"  yelled  an  Irishman.  •'  Go  it, 
Tim,  we'll  stand  by  yez." 

44  Timothy  Dodd  nades  no  one  to  sthand  by  him. 
He's  able  to  sthand  by  himself.-  The  saycret  of  bat- 
tlin'  wid  disayse  is  to  know  whin  to  take  physic,  and 
whin  to  lave  it  alone.  When  a  mon  gets  no  better 
wid  physic,  phat  do  we  say  ?  We  say  the  trouble  wid 
him  is  quacks.  Whin  the  political  body  is  sick  and 
gets  no  betther,  may  we  not  misthrust  that  the  worms 
that  are  gnawin'  at  its  vitals,  is  the  same  old  quacks  ? 
Gintlemin,  beware  of  quacks.  Don't  let  'em  fool  yez. 
They  talk  big,  but  whin  it  comes  down  to  physic,  ye 
want  a  mon  who  knows.  It's  my  opinion,"  repeated 
Timothy,  still  cautiously,  "that  what  the  patient  wants 
at  prisint,  is  a  powerful  lettin'  alone.  The  less  physic 
ye  poke  into  him,  the  sooner  he'll  get  on  his  fate." 

Seidel  had  listened  to  the  last  part  of  his  speech  and 
he  interfered.  "That  infernal  Iishman  will  do  us 
more  damage  in  that  five  minutes'  speech  than  all  the 
rest  have  done  us  good.     Why  did  they  let  him  talk?" 

He  set  his  gang  at  work,  and  they  cried  Tim  down, 
but  he  had  made  friends  in  the  crowd  and  they  allowed 
him  to  mingle  with  them  without  molesting  him.  He 
stayed  until  the  meeting  broke  up  and  the  free  lunch 
was  set  out  and  the  hungry  crowd  began  to  attack  it. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  295 

He  watched  the  last  remains  disappear,  and  the  fel- 
lows, filled  to  the  neck  with  free  beer  and  free  lunch, 
stagger  off  in  different  directions  to  their  sleeping 
places.  He  saw  Bill  Geass  get  into  an  argument  with 
Sam  Larkin,  in  which  they  tried  to  settle  the  question 
as  to  who  should  be  the  next  alderman  from  the  ward. 
They  began  the  conversation  with  many  protestations 
of  friendship  and  ended  with  calling  each  other  names, 
and  at  last  settled  it  by  a  free  fight.  For  a  time,  Sam 
had  the  better  of  it,  but  at  last  Bill  reached  for  his 
"second  barkeeper,"  which  consisted  of  a  stout  club 
made  of  hickory,  and  with  this,  he  brought  Sam  to 
time,  beating  him  over  the  head  and  then  dragging 
him  out  of  the  saloon  and  throwing  him  down  the 
steps  with  an  oath,  Sam  lay  at  first  like  one  stunned, 
and  Timothy  went  to  his  assistance.  After  getting 
him  out  to  the  horse  trough  and  pumping  water  on  his 
head,  Sam  came  to  himself  and  sat  up.  He  realized 
where  he  was,  and  started  home,  saying  "Oh,  you  can't 
kill  a  ward  politician." 

Timothy  having  made  up  his  mind  to  see  the  whole 
performance,  walked  back  to  the  office  by  the  break- 
ing light  of  day. 

"The  American  citizen  is  a  quare  dook.  He  wants 
soofrage  and  he  wants  silf  goovermint,  and  he  wants, 
the  divil  knows  phat,  and  then  whin  he  gets  all  of 
these,  he  throws  'em  all  away  for  free  beer.  Why 
don't  he  go  for  free  beer  in  the  first  place  and  save 
hissilf  all  the  preliminaries.  They  talk  about  discoo- 
sion  and  the  thary  of  politics ;  but,  after  all,  the  beer 
question  comes  up  and  swipes  the  platter.  It  is  the 
pivot  on  which  the  liberty  of  parties  hang.  It's  a  great 
country,"  said  Tim,  reflectively,  "  and  the  number  of 
fules  is  rapidly  on  the  incrase." 


CHAPTER  L. 


The  next  day  was  warm,  bright  and  beautiful. 

Seidel  came  down  to  his  headquarters  at  an  early 
hour.  "I  wish  that  it  would  rain,"  said  he.  "In 
stormy  weather  our  fellows  will  all  come  out,  and  their 
side  will  all  stay  in.     To-day  we  shall  have  a  full  vote. " 

The  time  wore  away  without  incident.  There  were 
rumors  that  Radcliff  was  running  ahead  of  his  ticket  in 
this  or  that  ward,  that  Cavallo  was  being  scratched, 
and  that  the  Civic  Federation  was  not  getting  a  vote 
below  the  street  car  barns. 

To  all  this  Seidel  returned  a  contemptuous  answer. 
"What  do  they  know  about  it?  The  only  way  to  tell 
is  to  wait  until  the  votes  are  counted." 

In  the  headquarters  of  the  Civic  Federation  all  was 
activity.  The  women  had  canvassed  the  city  and  had 
a  list  of  disabled  and  aged  voters.  They  sent  their 
carriages  and  made  details  for  the  work  of  getting 
them  in.  As  the  day  wore  away,  one  after  another  re- 
ported that  the  lists  had  been  closed  up.  They  ex- 
hibited a  precision  and  order  in  regard  to  it  that  as- 
tonished the  old  politicians,  and  they  all  agreed  that 
the  details  of  the  political  fight  had  never  been  handled 
so  well  before.  Mrs.  Bernheim  had  the  members  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Foot  Ball  team  as  her  aide  de  camps, 
and  she  sent  them  out  as  escorts  in  the  lower  wards, 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  297 

and  whenever  one  of  these  athletes  could  be  seen  tak- 
ing care  of  a  voter,  and  escorting  him  up  to  the  line 
allowed  by  the  Australian  ballot  law,  he  was  allowed  a 
respectful  passage. 

When  the  polls  were  closed,  everyone  breathed  a  long 
sigh  of  relief  and  went  home  to  supper. 

Not  so  Seidel.  He  remained  at  headquarters  where 
he  had  arrangements  made,  so  that,  at  each  precinct, 
the  news  would  come  to  him  by  telephone.  He  sta- 
tioned a  boy  at  the  telephone,  and  had  his  own  figures 
on  sheets  before  him,  so  that  he  could  at  once  refer  to 
the  vote  of  last  year,  of  two  years  ago,  and  what  his 
own  estimate  of  the  vote  was. 

The  ticket  was  long,  and  it  was  nearly  ten  o'clock 
before  the  first  returns  came  in,  then  the  boy  announced, 
u  Here  she  comes.     Ninth  ward,  fourth  precinct." 

"Ah,  ha!"  cried  Seidel,  arranging  his  sheets.  "How 
is  it?" 

M  Forty-three  for  Radcliff." 

"That's  good,"  replied  Seidel,  "  that's  Billy  Hayes' 
work.  Boys,  we  don't  want  to  forget  Billy.  He  has 
stood  at  that  poll  all  day,  and  has  watched  every 
voter." 

"Third  precinct,  sixth  ward,  sixteen  for  Radcliff." 

"  That's  better.  I  thought  Cavallo  would  hold  us 
down  there." 

"Old  Dr.  Blake  has  been  in  that  section,"  replied  a 
ward  heeler.  "  He  hates  Cavallo  as  the  devil  does 
holy  water." 

"Second  precinct,  fourth  ward,  thirty-nine  for  Rad- 
cliff" 

"  Hooray,"  yelled  Seidel.*  '*  At  this  rate,  Cavallo 
won't  get  a  ward.     By  George,  that's  great." 


298  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"That  is  some  of  old  Abbott's  work,"  said  the  same 
heeler.  "  Old  Abbott  has  a  nest  of  rookeries  there,  and 
he  went  all  through  them,  and  told  his  tenants  that  he 
would  forgive  them  their  back  rent,  if  they  would  give 
Cavallo  a  black  eye,  and  they  have  done  it." 

"  First  precinct,  seventh  ward,  eighty-nine  for  Ca- 
vallo." 

There  was  silence.  Seidel  was  the  first  to  gather 
confidence. 

"That's  the  Bernheim  flats,"  he  said,  "it's  an  offset 
for  Abbott's  tenants." 

"Second  precinct,  fifth  ward," 

■"Stop,"  said  Seidel,  "now  listen.     What  is  it?" 

«'  Fifty-four  for  Radcliff." 

"Hooray  for  him,"  yelled  Seidel,  "why  that's  a 
^complete  turning  over.  Fifty-four  for  Radcliff.  Gen- 
tlemen, this  settles  it.  If  the  city  is  going  on  in  this 
way,  Cavallo  won't  have  a  leg  to  stand  on.  This  is  a 
protest  against  the  action  of  a  lot  of  self-appointed 
Pharisees,  and  the  people  won't  stand   any  nonsense." 

The  ward  heeler  grinned. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at  ?  "  asked  Seidel,  hotly. 

"  Oh,  nawthin',"  said  the  fellow,  "  only  that's  old 
Doctor  McHale's  ward.  You've  struck  his  congrega- 
tion, that's  all." 

Just  then  the  crowd  began  to  cheer,  and,  on  going 
out,  it  was  discovered  that  some  boys  had  started  a 
bon-fire  in  front  of  the  headquarters. 

The  boy  dropped  his  voice  at  the  telephone,  and  said 
to  Siedel,  "  bad  news,  do  you  want  me  to  yell  it  out  ?" 

"No,"  replied  Seidel.  "what  is  it?" 

"Warren  county  goes  two  hundred  for  Cavallo." 

Seidel  turned  white. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  299 

"Great  heavens!  Ask  the  Central  office  to  repeat 
it.     It  can't  be  true." 

The  boy  did  so,  and  back  came  the  answer:  "  Yes,  it 
is  true." 

Seidel  made  a  few  figures  on  his  paper. 

"He  did  scoop  in  those  farmers,  after  all.  It  is  just 
what  I  have  always  said,  these  meetings  in  the  red 
school  houses  do  count." 

Then  the  boy  cried  out,  "  White  county,  fifteen  hun- 
dred for  Radcliff.'" 

"Ah,  ha!  "yelled  Seidel,  "  this  is  something  like. 
Fifteen  hundred  for  Radcliff.  Why,  it's  a  landslide,  a 
turning  over." 

Radcliff  came  in  at  this  juncture  and  was  followed 
by  a  crowd.     "  How  is  it  ?"  he  asked. 

"You  are  gaining  in  the  city,  and  have  carried  White 
county  by  fifteen  hundred.  You  are  the  next  Congress- 
man from  this  district." 

Everybody  yelled,  and  Radcliff  was  asked  to  make 
a  speech.  Mounting  the  table,  he  thanked  his  friends 
for  what  they  had  done  for  him  and  assured  them  that 
he  would  not  forget  them.  "This  victory  had  been 
won  by  hard  work.  I  am  a  great  believer  in  the 
maxim,  that 'To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,'  and 
boys,  if  I  can  get  my  hands  on  any  of  them  spoils,  I 
propose  to  divide  them  up." 

Just  then  the  boy  said,  "  Here's  the  whole  seventh 
ward.     Shall  I  give  it  ?  " 

"Yes,"  replied  Seidel,  "  let  us  have  a  little  bad  luck, 
it  will  take  the  edge  off  the  old  man's  enthusiasm." 

"Seventh  ward,"  roared  the  boy,  "three  hundred 
and  forty-seven  for  Cavallo  ;  balance  of  the  ticket  a 
little  behind  him." 


300  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Radcliff' s  jaw  dropped.  "This  is  bad,1'  and  he 
looked  at  Seidel. 

"Yes,"  returned  the  other,  indifferently,  "but  they 
must  have  some  votes.  Look  at  the  effort  that  they 
have  made.7' 

"Second  ward,  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  for 
Cavallo." 

"  What,"  shrieked  Radcliff,  "  that's  my  ward.  You 
don't  mean  to  tell  me  that  my  own  neighbors  have 
gone  back  on  me  in  that  way." 

The  heeler  grinned  :  "  Say,  Radcliff,  when  you  get 
back  from  Congress,  come  down  and  live  in  the  Bloody 
Ninth.  That's  the  only  place  where  they  appreciate 
ye." 

11  Brownsville,  forty-two  votes  for  Radcliff." 

*'  I  sent  five  kegs  of  beer  down  to  Brownsville  only 
the  day  before  election,"  said  Seidel.  "They  should 
have  done  better  than  that." 

The  votes  came  in,  but  the  news  began  to  grow  worse 
for  Radcliff.  The  first  returns  came  from  the  lower 
wards,  where  the  Ham  Heads  had  full  sway,  and  there 
being  very  little  scratching  done,  it  did  not  take  long 
to  get  in  the  full  vote,  but  now  the  rural  districts  and 
precincts  lying  along  the  railroads,  and  in  the  little 
towns  began  to  send  in  their  reports,  and  it  was  not  so 
favorable  for  Radcliff.  The  arrangements  had  been 
made  by  Seidel  with  great  care,  and  he  had  perfected 
this  with  a  view  to  the  future.  He  had  scanned  the 
aspect  in  every  possible  way,  and  was  prepared  for 
whatever  might  happen. 

"Now,"  he  explained,  as  the  returns  began  to  come 
in,  "Cavallo  may  carry  most  of  these  outlying  districts, 
but  until  he  can  wipe  out  the  majority  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred in  White  County,  we  are  safe. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  30 I 

He  felt  good,  but  he  was  puzzled  to  account  for  the 
vote  of  White  County.  He  asked  Radcliff  if  he  had 
done  anything  in  that  county  to  make  it  take  such  a 
chute.  It  had  only  recently  been  added  to  that  con- 
gressional district,  and  none  of  the  other  politicians 
could  tell  anything  about  it. 

Radcliff  pompously  replied,  "1  have  a  large  trade 
from  that  section  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  some  of 
my  old  customers  made  up  their  minds  to  surprise  me." 

The  noise  increased.  The  streets  were  filled  with 
crowds  of  boys  and  men  yelling  for  Radcliff,  and  seiz- 
ing on  all  the  stray  boxes  that  they  could  get  and 
burning  them  up.  The  saloons  were  in  full  blast,  and 
some  of  the  candidates  on  the  Radcliff  ticket  were 
buying  beer,  but  cautiously,  for  everything  depended 
upon  the  vote  of  White  County,  and  they  were  by  no 
means  out  of  the  woods.  The  votes  for  Cavallo,  in  the 
country  towns,  increased  steadily,  but  the  returns  in 
most  cases  were  only  for  the  head  of  the  ticket,  and 
this  made  the  candidates  on  the  county  tickets  with 
Radcliff,  look  blue. 

Radcliff,  himself,  was  the  very  picture  of  effusiveness. 
"Don't  be  cast  down,  boys,"  he  said,  " better  luck  next 
time.  I'll  see  that  you  are  taken  care  of.  Seidel,  I 
feel  that  I  can  congratulate  you  on  the  masterly  man- 
ner in  which  you  have  handled  this  campaign.  The 
bloomers  don't  win  this  time!"  and  Mr.  Radcliff,  having 
had  several  drinks  with  his  friends,  looked  the  picture 
of  the  patriotic  statesman. 

Then  he  took  on  a  sober  strain.  "  I  have  never  had 
any  doubt  in  regard  to  my  election.  Of  course,  be- 
tween you  and  me,  I  knew  that  the  people  of  this 
Congressional  district  would  never  stand  it  to  see  a  Jew 
representing  them. 


302  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

Just  then,  Shorty  Smith  came  down  the  steps  into 
the  headquarters.  He  was  a  well-known  character 
about  town.  He  was  M  hail  fellow  well  met"  with  every 
one,  obliging,  pleasant,  good  natured,  and  friends  with 
the  whole  city.  He  had  but  one  passion.  He  dearly 
loved  to  bet.  He  would  bet  on  every  thing  and  any 
thing.  The  turn  of  a  card  or  a  horse  race.  When  any 
event  excited  public  interest,  Shorty  Smith  was  on 
hand.  Now  he  bustled  into  the  little  place  and  went 
up  to  Radcliff  flusteringly  :  4'  Radcliff,  I'll  bet  ye,  ye 
aint  elected. 

"What!"  roared  Radcliff.  "What  are  you  talking 
about?" 

"Just  what  I  say.  I'll  bet  ye  that  ye  ain't  elected. 
Money  talks  ;  put  up,  or  shut  up." 

"Why,  I  am  elected.     You  are  crazy." 

"  Oh,  am  I  ?  Well,  then,  here's  a  chance  to  win  some 
money  from  a  crazy  man.  Put  up  your  dough,  old 
man,  any  thing,  from  a  five  dollar  note  to  a  thousand." 

Radcliff  gazed  at  him.  "Young  man,  you  are  throw- 
ing away  your  money." 

"Oh,  I  am  ?  Then  here's  your  chance  to  get  some 
of  it.  Put  up,  now,  or  I'll  go  out  on  the  street  right  in 
front  of  these  headquarters,  and  say  Shorty  Smith 
backed  ye  down." 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Radcliff,  appealing  to  the  crowd, 
"you  hear  this.  I  am,  in  a  manner,  forced  to  bet  and 
win  this  young  man's  money.  I  don't  want  to  do  it, 
but  I  am  forced  to  do  it." 

So  saying,  he  drew  out  a  roll  of  bills.  "A  thousand 
dollars  even,"  he  said  to  the  young  man. 

"That's  it,1'  replied  Shorty.  "Here  is  a  package 
with  the  bank  band  around  it.  I  didn't  think  that  I 
could  get  a  sucker  to  take  it  in  a  lump." 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3O3 

The  money  was  duly  deposited  with  a  third  party, 
when  Shorty  asked  :  "  Do  you  want  any  more?  That's 
all  of  my  roll,  but  I'll  go  and  jtry  to  scare  up  some 
more." 

He  had  hardly  gone,  when  Radcliff  asked:  u  Do 
you  suppose  that  he  has  got  any  news  that  hasn't  come 
to  us?" 

**  No,  I  guess  not,"  returned  Seidel.  "  Boy,  ask  them 
at  the  Central  office  if  they  have  anything  more." 

"Here  she  is,"  replied  the  boy.  "Corrected  returns 
from  White  county." 

"Now,"  cried  Seidel,  authoritatively,  " listen,  you 
fellows,  and  stop  yelling." 

"Corrected  returns  from  White  county.  Fifteen 
hundred  and  fourteen  for  Radcliff." 

The  crowd  yelled.  Then  added  the  boy,  '•  Twenty- 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven  for  Cavallo.'1 

"What!"  shrieked  Radcliff.  " What's  that,  twenty- 
seven  hundred  for  Cavallo?" 

"  How's  that !  Seidel,  how's  that !  Read  that  again, 
read  it  again,'7  and  the  anxiety  in  the  old  man's  face 
was  so  great,  that  large  drops  of  perspiration  rolled 
down  his  forehead. 

"  It  seems,"  responded  Seidel,  trying  to  speak 
calmly,  "that  the  first  dispatch  only  gave  your  total 
vote,  and  not  your  majority." 

11  It's  a  lie,  Seidel,  a  lie,"  he  yelled.  "  It's  a  Jew  trick. 
You  have  perpetrated  this  on  me  to  beat  me  out  of 
more  money.  It  was  you,"  shaking  his  fist  at  Seidel, 
"that  got  me  into  this.  In  the  first  place,  you  got  me 
to  indorse  your  note  for  five  thousand  dollars.  It  was 
you  who  sent  that  damned  Smith  around  at  the  last 
moment  to  rob  me  out  of  another  thousand,  when  you 
knew  I  was  beaten." 


304  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

"  Mr.  Radcliff,"  returned  Seidel,  rising  from  his  chair, 
11  this  from  you." 

More  he  would  have  said,  but  he  saw  the  old  man's 
face  getting  ashy  white,  and  then  he  fell  heavily  on  the 
floor. 

44  It's  the  heat,"  cried  Seidel,  "give  him  air;  take 
him  home,  get  a  carriage ;  and  he  jumped  over  his 
table,  got  the  old  man,  had  him  carried  out,  and,  putting 
him  into  a  carriage,  sent  him  home. 

As  the  vehicle  rolled  away,  the  crowd  began  to  dis- 
perse. The  ward  heeler  asked,  addressing  Seidel, 
"What  is  it,  a  fit  ?  " 

Seidel  remarked,  in  a  low  tone,  "It's  worse  than  a 
fit,  it's  a  stroke  of  apoplexy." 

Then  he  went  back  into  the  headquarters.  Ill  news 
travels  fast,  and  Seidel  smiled  bitterly  to  see  that  his 
crowd  was  already  thinning  out. 

"  Gentlemen,1'  he  said,  "we  are  beaten,  horse,  foot 
and  dragoons." 

He  took  his  valise,  whicvh  lay  behind  him,  waited  un- 
til the  last  man  had  departed,  then  he  locked  up  the 
office  and  threw  away  the  key.  '*  To  the  devil  with  it," 
he  said.  He  jumped  into  a  hack,  and  giving  directions 
to  the  driver  in  a  low  voice,  he  went  out  into  the  night. 


CHAPTER  LI. 


Lurello  Nagle  was  gloomingly  considering  what  he 
should  do  next,  for  the  news  of  the  defeat  had  reached 
him  too,  and  he  saw  that  the  game  was  up.  He  went 
to  headquarters  to  find  Seidel,  and  discovered  that 
everything  was  locked.  As  he  was  turning  away,  he 
ran  against  one  of  the  working  men  in  his  mill.  The 
man  had  been  drinking  freely,  and  he  was  disposed  to 
be  jocular. 

"Say,  Lurello,"  he  said,  "we've  been  licked,  havn't 
we?" 

Nagle  gave  him  no  reply. 

"  Don't  be  stuck  up,  now,"  said  the  man.  Then  an 
idea  struck  him  :  "Say,  Lurello,  what's  Oriental  stock 
worth  ?" 

At  any  other  time,  perhaps,  Nagle  would  not  have 
given  him  an  ungracious  answer.  Now,  he  said  "  It 
ain't  worth  a  damn." 

"What's  that,"  cried  his  companion.  "You  don't 
mean  to  tell  me,  Nagle,  that  you  have  been  onloadin' 
onto  me  ?  " 

Nagle  tried  to  break  away. 

The  fellow  roared  out,  "  Here  b'ys,  is  a  Jew  that's 
been  playin'  me  a  trick." 

This  was  enough  for  the  Ham  Heads  and  they  gath- 
ered around  him.     In  vain  Nagle  begged  and  offered 


306  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

to  treat  if  they  would  let  him  up.  They  got  a  blanket 
and  tossed  him;  then  they  rushed  him  through  a  bon- 
fire just  enough  to  singe  him,  but  not  enough  to  seri- 
ously burn  him,  and  every  time  the  workman  would 
ask  him,  "Will  ye  take  back  that  stock?" 

At  his  refusal  the  crowd  would  invent  some  other 
insult.  They  finally  poured  coal  tar  on  his  hair,  blacked 
his  face  with  shoe  blacking,  and  he  was  allowed  to 
escape. 

More  dead  than  alive,  he  went  home.  There  was 
no  light  in  his  house.  He  went  to  the  front  door;  it 
was  open.  With  a  sinking  feeling  at  his  heart,  he  went 
up  to  his  room.  His  wife  was  not  there.  He  looked 
about.  Everything  was  in  disorder.  The  bed  had 
been  occupied,  but  his  wife's  trunks  were  gone  and  all 
her  articles  of  toilet,  except  here  and  there  some  little 
thing  that  had  been,  apparently,  dropped  in  her  haste. 
He  went  to  Seidel's  room,  and  his  things  too  were 
gone.  The  thoroughness  with  which  his  effects  had 
been  taken,  showed  that  he  had  prepared  himself  bet- 
ter than  his  companion. 

The  unhappy  man  forgot  his  maltreatment,  forgot 
his  wretched  condition,  forgot  his  bodily  bruises  before 
this  new  woe,  and  he  burst  out  like  Cain,  "  My  God, 
my  punishment  is  greater  than  I  can  bear." 


CHAPTER  LII. 


All  the  next  day  the  returns  came  in,  increasing  the 
Cavallo  majority.  As  soon  as  the  intelligence  of  his 
victory  was  known,  it  was  overshadowed  in  the  city  of 
P by  the  scandal  connected  with  Seidell  disap- 
pearance. He  had,  it  appeared,  involved  everyone 
in  his  defalcations.  Bob  Lawrence  was  ruined,  but  he 
manfully  said  that  he  was  a  fool.  He  ought  to  have 
known  better,  and  he  paid  up  his  losses,  and  would  not 
allow  his  father  to  come  to  his  assistance.  He  was  still 
young,  he  added,  grimly,  and  with  a  touch  of  sardonic 
humor,  and  probably  the  loss  would  do  him  good. 

The  stroke  of  apoplexy  that  Radcliff  suffered  was 
fatal. 

Poor  Nagle  was  in  a  pitiable  plight.  His  discovery 
that  Seidel  had  utterly  ruined  him,  and  had  taken  Mrs. 
Nagle  away  broke  him  down.  He  would  not  be  con- 
soled and  he  sank  into  a  decrepit,  sorrow-stricken  old 
man,  prematurely  aged. 

The  losses  that  Seidel  had  inflicted,  fell  heavily  upon 
those  who  trusted  him,  for  his  mining  schemes  had 
nothing  to  support  them,  and,  with  his  disappearance, 
the  shares  were  worthless.  What  became  of  him  no 
one  ever  knew.  It  was  rumored  that  he  had  been  seen 
in  Canada,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  fellow-townsmen 
declared,    long   afterwards,    he  was  approached  by  a 


308  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

seedy  mendicant,  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  who  asked 
him  for  charity,  and  that  he  discerned,  under  his  rags, 
the  features  of  Seidel,  but  no  one  ever  cared  to  solve 
the  truth  of  the  story,  or  to  try  and  ascertain  what  had 
become  of  Mrs.  Nagle. 

As  the  returns  came  in,  and  the  official  vote  was 
published,  it  was  seen  that  Cavallo  had  been  elected 
mainly  by  the  vote  in  the  country.  The  farmers  and 
rural  population  had  come  to  his  side  with  hardly  an 
exception.  His  opponents  had  carried  the  lower  wards 
of  the  cities  and  the  river  wards  in  the  small  towns. 
As  Shorty  Smith  said  :  "  It  was  the  fever  an'  ager  vote 
that  went  for  Radcliff." 

The  Women's  Club  determined  to  hold  a  public 
meeting,  rejoicing  over  the  victory.  Mrs.  Bernheim 
proposed  it,  and,  after  everything  was  settled,  she 
called  a  mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  at  the  hall  where 
the  first  one  was  held.  The  building  was  packed  to  its 
fullest  capacity.  The  stage  was  decorated  with  flowers 
and  palms,  and  every  one  who  had  borne  a  part  in  the 
contest  was  there.  The  Civic  Federation  was  present 
in  force.  The  chairman  was,  by  common  consent,  Herr 
Muller. 

On  taking  this  position,  he  said  that  he  congratu- 
lated the  audience  and  the  doctor  for  the  great  work 
that  had  been  accomplished.  He  wanted  to  remind 
them  of  the  fact  that  the  credit  was  equally  due  to  the 
Women's  Club  and  its  President,  Mrs.  Bernheim. 

When  the  Civic  Federation  faltered  and  everything 
looked  dark,  she  had  organized  the  women  and  brought 
victory  out  of  defeat.  He  did  not  know  but  when 
Doctor  Cavallo  had  wearied  of  political  life,  that  the 
citizens  of  that  Congressional  district  would  do  well  to 
choose  Mrs.  Bernheim  to  succeed  him. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3O9 

This  amused  the  audience  more  than  it  did  that  lady. 
She  was  present  on  the  stage  with  her  committee  about 
her,  and  among  them  was  Miss  Lawrence. 

It  was,  however,  a  very  joyous  assembly,  and  as  speaker 
after  speaker  was  called  for,  each  one  expressed  his 
satisfaction  over  the  result,  and  hoped  that  this  was  the 
last  time  that  the  race  question  would  come  up  in  that 
district,  for  it  had  received  such  a  rebuke,  and  the 
defeat  of  those  who  had  sought  to  make  this  an  issue, 
had  been  so  great,  that  there  was  nothing  left  of  them. 

Dr.  Cavallo  was  here  called  for,  and  he  came  forward. 

He  said,  "That  a  short  time  before  he  had  spoken 
in  that  hall  to  an  audience  whose  hearts  were  filled 
with  hate.  He  had  faced  them  when  they  were  ready- 
to  hang  him  to  the  nearest  lamp-post.  Very  different 
was  it  now."  He  then  recounted  the  events  of  the 
campaign.  He  thanked  them  for  the  splendid  support 
that  they  had  given  him.  He  wished  to  emphasize  the 
fact  alluded  to  by  Herr  Muller,  "that  the  battle  had 
been  lost  when  the  Women's  Club  came  to  the  rescue. 

"  But  while  we  rejoice  now,  we  must  not  forget  that 
the  battle  is  not  yet  over.  As  long  as  there  exists  one 
soul  in  whose  breast  is  envy  against  his  fellow  man,  as 
long  as  a  single  human  being  is  crushed  by  the  malice 
of  him  who  should  be  his  brother,  as  long  as  there  is 
uncharitableness,  and  hate,  and  jealousy,  and  oppres- 
sion, so  long  must  the  friends  of  progress  keep  the 
beacon  fires  lighted  and  the  armor  bright.  It  is  only  by 
watchfulness  that  we  can  accomplish  this;  only  by 
devotion  to  this  idea  that  we  can  succeed. 

He  went  on  with  an  impassioned  appeal  to  his  hear- 
ers to  stand  by  this  grand  idea,  to  shake  off,  and  banish 
forever,  the  feeling  that  the  distinctions  that  men  have 


310  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

in  the  past  created,  are  divinely  given.  Rather  are 
they  the  remains  of  the  barbarism  of  the  past,  that 
savage  feeling  that  regards  every  other  man  as  a  foe. 
The  glory  of  the  latter  day  civilization  is  that  it  bursts 
the  shackles  of  the  slave,  that  it  uplifts  the  down- 
trodden, that  it  elevates  the  depressed,  that  it  puts  a 
staff  in  the  hands  of  him  who  is  lame,  and  supports  the 
feeble  and  weak.  In  doing  this,  it  but  carries  out  the 
commands  of  the  prophets  of  old,  who  laid  down  these 
glorious  maxims  of  charity  and  justice,  maxims  that, 
after  four  thousand  years,  the  world  has  hardly  risen 
to  accept. 

"  The  secret  of  good  government,"  continued  the  doc- 
tor, "is  good  citizens.  The  whole  body  politic  is  weighted 
down  by  contending  factions,  where  the  best  men  stand 
on  either  side,  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  while  a 
small  body  of  mercenaries,  taking  note  of  the  nearly 
equal  division,  step  in  and  wield  the  power  over  both 
of  them. 

44  There  are  more  good  people  than  bad  in  the  world  ; 
more  honest  people  than  rogues  ;  more  people  intent 
and  anxious  to  secure  good  government  than  there  are 
who  profit  by  bad  government,  and  yet,  such  is  the 
foolish  desire  of  men  to  stand  by  old  traditions,  that 
they  remain  in  their  old  lines,  while  the  hordes  of  mer- 
cenaries plunder  both  camps.  It  was  against  this  con- 
dition of  things  that  Civic  Federations  in  all  cities  are 
now  making  their  earnest  fight.  All  republics  that 
have  gone  before  have  been  weighted  by  these  forces, 
that  has  sunk  them  in  the  depths  of  municipal  mis- 
management. It  was  the  hostile  forces  of  Milo  and 
his  gang  of  political  gladiators  that  paved  the  way  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  Republic  of  Rome  and  the  triumph 
.of  Caesar. 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3II 

"  It  is  against  this  corruption  in  our  cities,  and  the 
effort  to  get  the  best  people  on  the  side  of  good  order, 
that  the  present  political  agitation  owes  its  birth.  On 
this  platform  every  man  can  stand.  The  evils  which 
we  fight,  are  the  same  that  in  all  ages  have  ruined 
states  and  destroyed  peoples.  It  was  this  that  was  the 
curse  of  the  ancient  republics.  It  was  not  until  the 
gripe  of  avarice  had  sapped  the  strength  of  the  ple- 
beians that  the  barbarians  made  headway  against  Rome. 
It  was  not  until  the  luxury  of  the  Asiatics  had  cor- 
rupted the  armies  of  Greece  that  she  lost  her  martial 
spirit.  Against  this  demon  of  avarice,  this  desire  to 
account  men  as  worthy  only  in  proportion  as  they  have 
money,  we  must  set  our  faces  as  with  a  flint.  There  is 
something  greater  in  life  than  merely  heaping  together 
wealth,  something  loftier  in  existence  than  the  worship 
of  money-bags.  When  this  is  made  the  standard  of 
success,  everything  dwarfs  and  shrivels  in  comparison. 
The  work  of  life  seems  mean  and  low.  Enthusiasm 
dies,  and  virtue  itself  becomes  a  matter  of  bargain  and 
sale.  Politics  under  this  system  is  a  mere  truckling  for 
measures  and  schemes,  only  a  device  to  collect  taxes 
and  a  means  of  expending  them.  Statesmanship  is 
lost  in  party  strife,  and  the  whole  idea  rises  no  higher 
than  to  possess  the  offices,  considering  them  as  the 
legitimate  spoils  for  party  service,  tossed  from  one  set  of 
thieves  back  to  another.  The  glow  of  patriotism,  the 
glory  of  serving  the  state,  of  being  useful  to  one's  kind, 
is  not  considered,  but  all  is  lost  in  a  scramble  for  place, 
and  these  are  multiplied  until  the  offices  become  a 
burden  upon  the  taxpayers,  and  the  public  service  is  no 
longer  the  measure  of  a  man's  worth. 

"The  great  body  of  the  people  is  waking  up  to  a 


312  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

realization  of  this,  and  while  the  evil  is  felt,  it  is  not  so 
clearly  seen  as  to  enable  them  to  throw  it  off.  We 
should  remember  that  all  nations  have  struggled 
under  it.  It  results,  and  has  resulted  everywhere  else, 
and  in  every  other  age  and  civilization,  in  the  creation 
of  a  privileged  class  whose  efforts  to  eat  up  the  sub- 
stance of  the  producers,  has  at  last  reduced  the  real 
supporters  of  the  state  to  a  condition  of  slavery  and 
servitude. 

"The  entire  effort  of  all  the  great  reformers  of  the 
past  has  been  to  escape  from  this,  and  to  rescue  the 
people.  It  was  this  that  aroused  the  spirit  of  Moses, 
the  great  lawgiver,  and  induced  him  to  champion  the 
cause  of  Israel  and  take  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
into  the  Land  of  Promise.  It  was  this  that  aroused 
the  spirit  of  patriotism  in  the  old  prophets,  that  in- 
spired Isaiah,  who  lashed  the  rich  men  of  his  day  for 
their  wickedness,  that  spoke  in  the  warning  words  of 
Amos,  that  old  shepherd,  whose  soul  glowed  within 
him  in  hot  indignation  at  the  sins  of  the  dominant  class. 
It  rebuked  the  aristocracy  by  the  lips  of  Jeremiah,  and 
broke  out  in  indignant  denunciation  in  Hosea.  How 
it  flamed  in  the  awful  presence  of  Elijah,  the  prophet 
of  God,  as  he  invoked  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  against 
Ahab,  the  wicked  king,  against  Jezebel,  the  still  more 
wicked  queen.  And  last  of  all,  how  it  evoked  denun- 
ciation and  warning  from  that  great  Jew,  Jesus,  the 
Rabbi  of  Nazereth,  who  rebuked  the  fell  spirit  of 
avarice  ;  who  felt  for  the  poor,  who  mingled  with  the 
lowly,  who  cut  the  dry  forms  of  legalism,  and  true  to  the 
spirit  of  the  great  rabbis  who  preceded  him,  emanci- 
pated the  people  from  too  great  dependence  on  the 
past.      These    prophets    and   teachers   show   us    that 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3  I  3 

wherever  a  cry  has  gone  up  for  humanity,  there,  in  the 
path,  resolutely  withstanding  their  work  and  hindering 
it,  has  been  the  form  of  some  man,  whose  soul,  aflame 
with  avarice  and  distorted  by  greed,  has  striven  to  ob- 
struct and  bar  the  way.  It  is  this  lesson  that  has  created 
the  Civic  Federation.     It  is  this  that  has  united  us. 

"  Before  this  spirit,  which  threatens  us  now  as  much 
as  it  did  in  the  past,  every  honest  man  must  exert 
himself.  It  is  the  platform  upon  which  every  true  soul 
must  stand,  Jew  and  Gentile,  orthodox  and  reformer, 
Methodist  and  Episcopalian,  Presbyterian  and  Uni- 
versalist,  Catholic  and  Dissenter,  for  it  is  not  in  re- 
ligious distinctions  that  our  future  danger  lies.  It  is 
not  in  keeping  the  Bible  in  or  out  of  the  public  schools 
that  the  Republic  is  to  be  saved.  We  shall  not  fight 
this  spirit  by  seeing  the  flag  float  from  the  school- 
houses.  It  is  when  we  forget  that  the  Brotherhood  of 
Man  implies  the  Fatherhood  of  God  ;  it  is  when  we 
forget  that  he  who  denies  his  brother  denieth  God.  It 
is  when  corporations  chuckle  to  think  that,  having  no 
souls,  they  escape  all  responsibility  for  their  work,  that 
the  future  of  the  country  is  imperiled. 

"We  may  build  schools  and  colleges,  but  they  have 
done  these  things  before.  We  may  erect  lofty  monu- 
ments, but  these  have  been  erected  before.  We  may 
multiply  means  of  communication,  but  to  get  over  the 
ground  in  an  hour,  when  it  used  to  take  our  fathers 
days,  does  not  solve  these  moral  questions.  The  world 
is  anxious  and  excited,  and  is  asking  if  it  must  tread 
the  same  paths  that  have  been  already  trod.  Is  our 
present  civilization  to  go  the  same  road  that  others 
have  gone  ?  Is  there  to  be  no  end  to  all  this  weary 
work  and  weary  waiting  ?     Can  we  catch  no  echo,  from 


314  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

the  future,  but  is  our  civilization  to  blossom  and  to  de- 
cay, just  as  all  former  ones  have  done  ?  Are  we  unable 
to  solve  this  problem  ?  Must  we  go  down  into  the 
dust  bin  of  the  ages  and  acknowledge  that  we  have 
done  no  better  than  those  who  have  preceded  us  ? 
Is  there,  then,  only  the  word  '  Failure,'  to  be  written  all 
across  our  work  in  this  world,  and  is  our  boasted 
scheme  of  human  liberty  only  an  accidental  circum- 
stance, to  be  dissipated  as  soon  as  our  municipalities 
grow  large  enough  to  overwhelm  it  ?  Is  republicanism 
only  possible  in  small  and  sparsely  settled  commun- 
ities, the  mountain  tops,  and  the  desert  places ;  but  as 
soon  as  the  human  animal  collects  in  a  mass,  is  he 
doomed  to  generate  out  of  his  social  condition,  the 
maladies  that  prove  fatal  to  him  ?  Is  he  to  see  born 
of  his  misery  the  parasites  that  consume  him  ? 

"These  are  the  burning  questions  of  the  hour,  these 
are  the  things  that  we  must  bear  in  mind  when  we 
come  face  to  face  with  the  problems  of  government. 
Every  man  who  takes  a  hopeful  view  of  the  future, 
every  man  who  believes  in  the  progress  of  the  race, 
and  that  the  past  is  but  a  stepping-stone  to  the  better 
life  that  lies  beyond,  will  agree  that  to  see  the  danger 
is  the  first  thing  towards  avoiding  it.  But  it  must  be 
resolutely  met.  Its  solution  is  so  much  higher  than 
any  mere  question  of  tariff,  or  of  party  manipulation, 
that  when  we  are  brought  to  see  it  in  its  largest  aspect, 
we  can  but  acknowledge,  that  towards  this,  all  true 
men  must  labor,  for  it,  all  good  men  must  work,  and 
hope,  and  pray.1' 

The  effort  was  in  the  highest  degree  aflame  with  true 
eloquence,  and  when  the  doctor  closed,  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  enthusiastic  friends.     There  was  no   need 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  3  I  5 

to  adjourn  the  meeting,  it  adjourned  itself,  and  a  gen- 
uine love  feast  ensued.  As  soon  as  the  doctor  had 
shaken  hands  with  all  of  his  friends  he  joined  Margaret 
at  the  back  of  the  stage,  and,  as  the  groups  began  to 
depart,  he  wrapped  her  cloak  around  her,  and  together 
they  walked  down  the  hall  and  out  on  the  streets 

It  was  one  of  those  evenings  in  the  fall  when  Indian 
summer  had  set  in,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  soft 
haze.  A  full  moon  looked  down  upon  them.  For 
some  time  they  walked  along,  each  filled  with  the 
thoughts  of  what  had  been  accomplished.  The  doctor 
first  broke  silence.  He  recalled  the  time  when  he  had 
avowed  his  race  and  religion,  and  told  her  what  a 
struggle  he  had  had,  and  how  her  words  had  turned 
the  current  of  his  thoughts,  and  altered  the  tenor  of 
his  whole  life.  Again,  it  was  her  notes,  on  two  occa- 
sions, that  had  supported  him  in  an  hour  and  at  a  time 
when  everything  else  seemed  to  have  deserted  him. 
Had  it  not  been  for  her,  he  would  not  have  gone  to  the 
hall  and  faced  his  enemies,  and  had  it  not  been  for  her 
he  would  not  have  accepted  the  nomination. 

She  modestly  disclaimed  any  intention  of  doing  any- 
thing more  than  to  give  him  the  weight  of  her  opinion. 
If  she  had  helped  in  any  way  to  guide  him  in  the 
right  path,  she  was  only  too  happy  to  have  been  able 
to  do  it. 

He  said  that  he  realized  that  in  spite  of  all  that  had 
been  said,  there  was  a  wide  chasm  between  them,  a 
chasm  that  he  had  no  right  to  ask  her  to  cross,  but 
after  having  fought  so  hard  a  contest,  he  felt  that  his 
was  the  privilege  to  seek  his  fortune  further,  and  to 
say  to  her  what  he  would  have  left  unsaid  had  he  been 
defeated. 


3l6  DOCTOR    CAVALLO 

She  laughingly  replied,  "You  are  then  thinking  'that 
to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils.' 

Cavallo  felt  inspired.  The  whole  torrent  of  his 
pent  up  feeling  broke  through  the  floodgates  of  love. 
Life  without  her,  he  told  her,  would  be  a  barren  desert, 
for  it  was  her  sweet  smile,  her  sympathetic  glance,  her 
encouraging  words,  that  spurred  him  to  action.  His 
sky  would  be  starless,  his  paradise  without  a  charm, 
his  heaven  cold  and  dreary  without  her — his  first  and 
only  love,  his  guiding  star,  his  angel ! 

What  was  her  reply? 

Let  the  reader  answer.  Here  is  one  who  has  shown  all 
the  high  qualities  that  try  a  man  in  a  prolonged  contest. 
Yet  through  it  all,  every  act  of  his  has  portrayed  the 
man  of  high  character,  the  man  of  undaunted  courage, 
of  chivalry,  of  loyalty  to  his  ideal,  of  tender  and  sym- 
pathetic emotions,  of  heroic  valor,  of  manly  grace. 
He  has,  against  fearful  odds,  carried  off  the  prize 
and  has  won  a  victory  which  his  best  friends  pro- 
nounced impossible.  Is  it  likely,  that  with  these 
qualities,  a  loving  and  ardent  girl  would  refuse  his  suit? 

What  is  race  prejudice,  what  religious  differences, 
to  two  such  souls  as  these,  through  whose  every  aspir- 
ation breathes  the  fervor  of  religious  poetry,  and  whose 
sOuls  pulsate  in  unison  for  the  uplifting  of  their  fellow 
men,  and  who  hear  the  voice  of  the  living  Father  in 
the  rustling  of  the  leaf,  no  less  than  in  the  muttering 
of  the  elements,  and  discern  the  tracing  of  God  on 
the  trestle  board  of  his  harmonious  creation  ?  All 
the  sweet  and  holy  emotions  of  love  that  sanctify 
and  adorn  life,  pulsated  in  their  hearts,  as,  yielding  to 
the  impulse  of  the  time,  in  harmony  with  the  tender 
graces  of  the  dying  night,  Cavallo  clasped  the  hand  of 


DOCTOR    CAVALLO  317 

his  companion,  and,  with  a  kiss,  sealed  the  solemn 
betrothal. 

When  they  strolled  into  the  Lawrence  mansion  they 
found  Mrs.  Lawrence  waiting  for  them,  and  the  doctor 
walking  up,  put  his  hand  in  hers  and  said,  "  Mrs.  Law- 
rence, you  have  this  night  either  gained  a  son  or  lost  a 
daughter." 

What  could  the  mother  say? 


THE  END. 


m. 


university  of  California  library, 
berkeley 

this  book  is  due  on  the  last  date 
stamped  below 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


FEB  20  1924 

NOV  T2-1934 

SAN  DIEGO 
iNTERLIBRARY  LOAlK 


10m-12,'23 


J#"    K 


YCI02I89 


IK- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


